Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Hello Kitty!
Hello!
I spotted this and it was too cute to resist! =D
I'm not a fan of Hello Kitty but I still think she's cute and well.. All Sanrio characters are pretty much in the "*SQUEALS!* SO CUTE!" league so..=)
With a Hello Kitty head made from Swarovski crystals.. The LaVie G is...
A Swarovski crystal studded Hello Kitty laptop in PINK! =D And you can get it from NEC for just 199,500 Yen! =D [That's a little over S$2500 by the way.]
Not only do you get a pretty Hello Kitty head on your laptop, by the looks of the many listings on the NEC site, the laptop itself has tons of features.=D So far, I can only tell that there's a DVD-writer or something along the lines of that.^_^" And something about the sound.
Check it out HERE [click on the link!] to see more! [And if you can read Japanese, I'm sure that'd be good too. Haha.=P]
On the Sanrio site, there's something about monthly giveaways and look at this:
Hello Kitty Mushrooms!!! xD xD xD SO CUTE.
Squee! I think these Sanrio and San-X characters exist just to bring on a little smile on your face.^_^ Looking at them always makes me happy!
O yes. And I've finished watching sola! =D The ending wasn't terribly satisfying but there was a nice twist. The final episodes of Code Geass are also out! So I'm looking forward to that as well.=D
cheers
*[-witchstone-]*
[music : colorless wind sola OST]
[mood : ^_^]
[food : laksa!]Labels: anime, Code Geass, Hello Kitty, misc, Sanrio, sola
Monday, July 30, 2007
Phuket
Hello! =D
We just returned from Phuket this morning [the plane arrived at almost 1am] and staggered home to bed. Tiger Airways is fine for one hour certainly, as long as I don't attempt to sleep or try to make myself comfortable because it won't work.-_-"
Anyway!
Phuket was GREAT. It's the monsoon season right now, so there's tons of rain and cloudy skies which makes for great photos when the rain stops and the sun starts to shine! We got a fair amount of sunshine and my avoid-the-sun plan was urm.. Not terribly successful.O__o Still, I loved the place we stayed at: Dusit Laguna which is part of the larger Laguna resort [it's made up of like, 5 hotels in one giant complex] where you get to enjoy the sea and the beach as well as a huge lagoon.^_^
Early in the morning, we had to get up to face this.. QUEUE at the Budget Terminal for the flight bound to Phuket via Tiger Airways. Luckily, more pleasant sights awaited us at our destination...
[clockwise from top left] The hotel lobby, a beautiful stone carving, a pretty lamp along one of the many walkways and our room! ^_^
The hotel itself is gorgeous. The Dusit chain of hotels is Thai-run so the whole place was in this beautiful Thai style, with all the trimmings like Thai fruit, food, decor, etc etc. The room was amazing and we had a great view of the Lagoon [it's actually cheaper to get a room with a lagoon view than the sea view but I think the lagoon view is much nicer.^_^] because each room has its own balcony thingie. The room is really spacious too and the bathroom is HUGE! It takes up about half the room. Haha.=D
The grounds of the hotel in all its sunny glory. The grounds are pretty big and the Dusit Laguna is already smallish in size when compared to the Sheraton just opposite. There's a massage area right next to the beach [and we definitely took advantage of that.xD] and tons of lounging chairs all over to let you soak in the rays, enjoy the breeze and generally relax. The landscaping of the place is gorgeous as well, with the gardeners making full use of the blooming tropical flowers to brighten up the place.
See! ^_^ I love flowers. And I love taking photos of flowers.=D
The lagoon! =D As mentioned previously, Laguna Phuket is a huge complex of hotels so you can get between the hotels either by the free shuttle bus service [it's more like a huge tuk tuk, one of those local open-air truck like taxis] or by the free ferry service! It's GORGEOUS taking the ferry and looking at the gorgeous views of the lagoon and the sea.^_^
Like this! The sun is setting over the sea and I took this on our way to dinner.^_^
Apart from lounging around, eating and taking photos, you can also participate in their many water sport activities.^_^ We took advantage of the free kayak rentals and paddled around the lagoon [thank goodness I made my brother pair with me.=D If not, I would never have moved from the same spot. Ahaha] until the stupid jet-ski people [jetskis are outlawed in Thailand by the way] made it too dangerous to paddle around. We also tried out scuba-diving but it was too rainy to windsurf or do most other activities. If you go during the great weather season [also the peak season, November to May] though, you can go on kayaking expeditions, scuba diving trips, trips to the islands around Phuket, visit the rainforest and see their gibbon conservation project, etc etc. You could even just go to Patong like we did and check out JungCeylon, the newest and largest mall there.^_^
I've got TONS of photos of clouds and the sea. And the craggy hills around the beach. And I've got tons of photos of the beach...and the pool...and the other hotels... But I really love these pictures.^_^ And forgive me but they are quite repetitive and use copious amounts of macro. Haha.
Wee! I've been dying to take a shot like this for the longest time. Ahaha. =D Not original, and not exciting but I still think it's nice.
This picture was such a jinx! My dad and I had the worst pool game EVER after I took this.(T_T)
I've never seen such a nice seashell at the beach before.=) It's not only perfect with no chipping or holes, but it's got a really nice colour too.^_^
Every evening, we went to the beach side bar to take advantage of their 1 for 1 drinks.=D And thus, every evening, I came away with many many pictures of the sunset.
I love this image.=D I think the foreground is a little too dark though. *frowns*
=D
One thing I discovered while lounging in Phuket and reading, bossa nova makes a great companion to the gentle roar of the waves. Chill-out too! [I'm still kicking myself for not getting the Cafe del Mar CD from Jiamin and Simin.(T_T)] Also, I read 2 Haruki Murakami novels while I was there.=D Perfect reading I tell you. There's just... something about Murakami's writing that draws me in. It's quite inexplicable. And I realised that his books don't really have a plot per se but are more like.. a very long thought process.
I've definitely entered my Haruki Murakami phase [I've got book phases sometimes, reading as many books by the author that I can get my hands on]. What an expensive investment this will be.X__x
^_^ I've got food photos too but I'll be posting those on the food blog [Link: spoonerisms*inc] so check 'em out there.^_^
Phuket was a great holiday and I'd love to go back but for the moment, I'm happy to be back here.^_^ Plus, it's sunny! Yay!
cheers
*[-witchstone-]*
[music : Heisei jyuushichinen shichigatsu nanoka alice nine.]
[mood : ^_^]
[food : --]
wendaye: I can't believe it. Daniel Henney can speak Japanese but not Korean? Isn't he like. Half korean or something?! -_______-"
Joyce: YES. Hanakimi is really nice to watch!!! xD xD xD Haha. Beams! And I only really want to watch Seducing Mr Perfect [it's a movie by the way, not a drama] because of *coughs* Daniel Henney's presence. Hahaha.=PLabels: beach, books, food blog, Haruki Murakami, misc, photo journey, Phuket
Thursday, July 26, 2007
To Phuket!
Hello!We're currently in the budget terminal getting breakfast before boarding the flight to Phuket at this unearthly hour.I woke this morning thanks to my overzealous mother at 4am. FOUR. O kill me! -___-" So anyway, surprisingly, I sprang out of bed possibly because I slept late yesterday. Squee! I finally finished the last instalment [or so SHE says..] of Harry Potter. I must say I found some of the parts quite.. Well.. Stupid. Like. O yes let's strive for such an ending shall we? -_-" And right at the end, she didn't tie up enough "assured futures" for all the characters and left a lot of things hanging, like, what exactly were they doing and so forth. JK Rowling is also suddenly being descriptive which was very strange, seeing as she's never really gone into detail about the richly opulent surroundings. O.oAnd I watched the 3rd episode of Hanakimi! =D It was a pretty serious episode this time but SQUEE! Tons of nice shots of Shun Oguri looking all tall, slim and hot. Haha. The next episode looks funny though.=D And Fuurin Kazan was just REALLY dramatic. Kind of like Harry Potter but in a more epic way.. Haha.Okay! We're off to Phuket.cheers*[-witchstone-]*[music : Happy Music!][mood : grumpy at being woken so early][food : bread and milo.=D]Labels: misc, Phuket
Friday, July 20, 2007
King Lear
Hello!
I just returned from watching King Lear at the Esplanade [and thus it's like.12.40am at this current point in time.X__x]. Gosh it was good!!! =D
Thankfully my brother told me the whole story before I went to watch it. Coughs. Yes. I admit that I've never actually read King Lear. In my defense, even if I didn't read it, I did understand most of the Elizabethan English during the play! ^_^v Yay me! And that is in light of my utter HUH-ness when I first opened Othello in JC 1. *nods*
Such leaps and bounds one can make by simply studying one Shakespeare play! =D I'm still cursing Crescent for not choosing Shakespeare as a literature text. Such a travesty. *shakes head*
Anyway. I loved King Lear! The last scene... xD I love Shakespeare and his "pepper speeches with great memorable phrases" habit.=D *quotes Othello*: "one that loved not wisely, but too well". Isn't that a great memorable phrase? =D Anyway. And I love their rhyming couplets to give great... WEIGHT to the end of speeches. Wee! We should all speak in rhyming couplets to give our words extra poignancy. Haha.
The acting was fabulous [the British accent does wonders for any British play] obviously. It is the Royal Shakespeare Company after all.^_^ Of course, King Lear was played by Ian McKellen [McKallen? McKellan? X__x] and he was good. Although I think he sputtered a bit and I was like, "huh what did he say.O__o" *coughs*
I loved the Fool [no idea who acted as him, truth be told, I can only remember Ian McKellen's name. Oops.] though. He was really good at adding that little punch to the scenes. I also loved the evil sisters, Goneril and Regan! They were so bitchy.=D And I thought the guy who acted as Edmund was rather goodlooking. Haha. And such stage presence [this applies to like, every main character]! ^_^ Other guys include Kent and Gloucester! ^_^ I thought Cordelia was very pretty [and I LOVED her dress in the opening scene] but her wailing about her dear dad annoyed me.-_-" Plus, overly righteous people in plays always annoy me so she had quite a few odds against her.
They had a very simple set, with nice costumes to denote rank and such. I was utterly puzzled by the appearance of guns though.O__o I had no idea Shakespeare's era had guns [pistols at that]. Like hello late 1500s and early 1600s! Weren't they fighting with long swords then or at the most advanced, muskets?
I was also impressed that they didn't use microphones. I think. Such voice projection! *_*!
So yes. Yay for King Lear! ^_^v Despite my slightly crappy seats, because of the extended stage [to resemble the Elizabethan stage] I could see most of the action on stage. Except for the rather depressing ending where urm... Practically everyone dies and ALL the major characters die, it was a nice play. How about... ULTIMATE TRAGEDY? Nice comic moments but utterly poignant ending.
The cast receiving a standing ovation from the entire audience [or as much of the audience as I could see from my seat anyway.]. I was quite shocked because well.. You don't usually get a standing ovation in Singapore, just people cheering and clapping loudly. But this! ^_^ Testament to how everyone enjoyed the show.
The whole place was silent for most of the show actually. This is something I've rarely experienced here. As I was telling Wendy, mostly, when the theatre is very very quiet because of some moving scene in the performance, there'll always be some idiot who breaks the silence with a cough, thus igniting coughs all over the theatre and killing the mood. This time though, everyone was respectfully silent and.. well. Silent.^_^ Great stuff.
=D I'm actually quite up for my next play [this is my first play.. ever.] especially if it's by Shakespeare. Wee! *is converted*
Alright. It is late and I am beyond sleepy.-_____-
cheers
*[-witchstone-]*
[music : --]
[mood : happy but sleepy]
[food : --]Labels: King Lear, Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Tokidoki! and other cute things
Hello!!
Omygosh. Tokidoki has an upcoming collaboration with HELLO KITTY!!! =D =D =D It's called tokidoki for Hello Kitty and is currently "coming soon".xD xD xD Double the cuteness! Double the fun! I cannot wait!!! =D
Secondly, I didn't know this but in spring this year, there was a tokidoki for smashbox collection.=D =D =D I am so hunting that down when I go to the US [or ordering it online..=P].^_^ Beams. Firstly, I am dying to try smashbox cosmetics since it's supposed to be quite good [apparently, this foundation thingy helps to soak up all the oil on your face so you have a great matte finish] and the tokidoki prints seal the deal! xD
Check the smashbox page here: LINK and the tokidoki page here: LINK.
The tokidoki home page [LINK] is bursting with cuteness.^_^
And I found a tokidoki notebook that is wayyy too adorable to not own [LINK] but US$12 for a notebook is simply ridiculous.-___-" Especially when they tell you there are 128 pages.-___-" I like having notebooks where you cannot divide the cost by the number of pages and then weep over how much you spent. Still, each page in the tokidoki notebook is printed with tokidoki characters so it does make the notebook feel a teensy bit more worth the money.
I love tokidoki!!! =D =D =D It's SO CUTE. But how many ways can you say so expensive and so overpriced?! *hangs head sadly* I would own a tokidoki for Lesportsac right now if it weren't for the price and how flimsy Lesportsac bags are. [I love Lesportsac but seriously. How many ways can you say falling apart?]
tokidoki has t-shirts! xD I love 'em stormy rainbows.xD You can buy the t-shirt if you click this LINK.=D
Some info on tokidoki:
tokidoki is the Japanese inspired lifestyle brand created in 2005 by Italian artist Simone Legno and his business partners Pooneh Mohajer and Ivan Arnold. tokidoki produces apparel and other products using art and iconic characters designed by Simone Legno. [wikipedia]
More cuteness:
EMOTIBUDS!
Little clip-ons for your ipod earphones.^_^ See and buy [only by Paypal] the cuteness here: LINK. They are just US$4 each if you don't include shipping.=) And I think they can brighten up anyone's day quite considerably.^_^
Tofu Girls
Tofu Girls is the offbeat project of two minds: Hong Ly and Mindy Lee. By working together, they've managed to come up with designs for t-shirts that they would want to buy and wear themselves. The main idea behind Tofu Girls is to inspire and create an environment in which female artists could be invited to participate and contribute to a brand that would essentially be created by women for women. [from the site, link below.]
You can visit their site and store [unfortunately, they only ship within the US] here: LINK! They have loads of characters really. Haha.=D
Takashi Murakami/Murakami Takashi
Murakami is the one who designed the Monogram Multicolore for Louis Vuitton, the insanely popular and ubiquitous design of the LV monogram in colourful shades on a black or white background.=) On his official site, he has a whole stable of other artists who generate greatly interesting stuff.^_^ They specialize in pop art on the whole as well as installation pieces... Not sticklers to tradition in other words.=D
A quick look brings Chiho Aoshima to my attention.=D It's probably her colourful, intricate and Japanese-inspired artwork that makes me squeal with delight.^_^
This is gorgeous no? =D
Link to the Kaikai Kiki site here: LINK.
There's an art exhibition on in Los Angeles [or Los Angels according to the Japanese.O__o Apparently, Gackt isn't the only one guilty of this faux pas.] called World xshibuya [LINK]. They will feature up and coming artists from one of the most vibrant districts in Tokyo, Shibuya! ^_^ [Like that wasn't obvious.-_-"]
From the blog:
World x-shibuya is a project for Shibuya related Japanese creators and artists to bring their works to other countries with the flavor of their local ordinariness based on their localactivities. Lively artists from the heart of the Tokyo metropolis will bring the scent of the NOW of the ordinary life in Shibuya, Tokyo.
^_^ Sounds great doesn't it! I regret slightly not visiting all these uber cool art exhibitions in Tokyo, especially when I adore Japanese pop art [there's something irresistably cute about it all.xD]. And I'm sad I didn't get to check out the 21_21 gallery at Tokyo Midtown.
Nevermind! This calls for another trip to TOKYO!!! xD xD xD Beams. Plus the food that calls me... *_*! And of course.. manga! And anime! And music! And the language! ^_^
I am looking forward to studying Japanese in school. ^_^v *random insertion ends*
Disclaimer: All images belong to tokidoki, Tofu Girls, etc etc and their respective owners.=)
Okay. I must be off.
cheers
*[-witchstone-]*
[music : Corona alice nine. + Fukai Mori Do as Infinity]
[mood : ^_^ tokidoki!!! *points points*]
[food : Japanese!]Labels: art, cuteness, Japan, misc, pop art, tokidoki
Monday, July 16, 2007
Crescent + Cafe del Mar
Hello!
Today Brenda and I went back to Crescent to eat and then we joined my brother and Houston at Sentosa to go to Cafe del Mar to watch the sun set.^_^
It was rather nostalgic, walking up the hill to Crescent. They were having their Mother Tongue Listening Comprehension exams today so the school was pretty quiet. Reminds me very much of when we stayed back late after school to study and the whole place was empty of other students.
Because of the exams, we couldn't go to the classroom blocks so we headed straight for the Canteen! ^_^
The view of the parade square from the canteen. Doesn't it remind one of happier, simpler days? ^_^
Of course, one can't return to Crescent without eating one's fill of the food there..=P
From top left, clockwise: half-eaten Hong Kong Noodles, wanton noodles, half-eaten Chicken Rice and Mixed Vegetable rice stall [fried rice, cabbage, egg chaipoh omelette and braised egg].=D
Our favourites, the chicken rice and hong kong noodles were the best. Haha. The wanton noodles were made by a different person, and weren't as good as before. The mixed vegetable rice has never been fabulous though it was a good filler for when one was utterly bored with the other food. ^_^ We also had ice jelly for dessert and to squelch the heat that hung in the air.X__x
A renovated and upgraded waterfall that has replaced the ancient and disgusting pond.
There were many changes in Crescent, new additions, renovated areas and of course, many new faces on the teaching staff. While I'm glad that my old school is taking steps to improve itself, I'm sad that what I remember is slowly evolving into a memory that will no longer be the one I have. It was also a shame that we couldn't go to the classroom blocks... That's where we spent most of our time and is definitely something etched deeply in our memories.
We also spoke to some teachers there and they told us how Crescent is now changing to become a test pilot for the "Future School" concept. What we learnt and how we were taught will be very "old-school" one day. Gone are pen and paper and right now is the age of the tablet laptop. We're certainly getting old aren't we?
After we left Crescent, Brenda and I headed for Vivocity and the monorail to Sentosa. It costs only $3 for a return ticket to Sentosa and on the island itself, you can get onto their free tram service to get around the different points of the island. When we got on the monorail, we headed straight for the Beach Station where we headed for Siloso Beach.
On Siloso Beach lies the Singapore branch of Cafe del Mar! ^_^
According to wikipedia: Café del Mar is a bar located in San Antonio, Ibiza. It is a popular summer tourist destination, noted for its view of the local sunset. Café del Mar is the original "the sunset bar" in San Antonio opened by Ramón Guiral, Carlos Andrea, and José Les in 1978. Part of watching the sunset is the music, described as ambient, easy listening music. The bar originally sold their own tapes of the music but a series of Café del Mar CDs have been sold. As of 2007, there are 14 volumes, numerous side compilations, plus 2 albums commemorating the 20th and 25th Anniversary. A total of about 9 million albums have been sold worldwide.
They have pretty good music there, perfect for the beach and a chill-out atmosphere.^_^ You just kind of lie on their sun-beds/day-beds and soak in the rays while enjoying a cool drink and the nice music.^_^
Of course, when we went, the sun was still blasting all of its heat at us so Brenda and I were running around madly looking for a slightly shady spot. X__x I recommend going anytime of the day if you want the rays but if you're sun-phobic, I think going in the evening is great. ^_^ They also have 1-for-1 housepours from 3-9pm.^_^
Sentosa is actually a beautiful place to hang out because the beaches are really clean.=) On a sunny day like today, you also get marvellous beachy views of the mini-islands that surround the lagoon. ^_^
Because of heat though.. We were completely inappropriately dressed.X__x The clothing of choice amongst the female species appears to be... Bikinis and.. Hmm. Not much else. Guys appeared to have a more varied taste in clothing. Brenda and I were both wearing jeans that we had to fold up, lest they bring any sand home.
Cafe del Mar takes up a pretty big space and is strewn with outdoor lounge chairs, beds [equipped with huge umbrellas], canopied beds and has an outdoor sheltered section as well as an indoor air-conditioned section. The entrances to the beach are marked by these torches that are probably lit at night while a white picket fence separates Cafe del Mar from the main beach.^_^
The drinks are a Vodka Sprite [me] and a Virgin Mary [Brenda].
I also had a Mojito which I now currently declare as my new favourite drink on a hot day! ^_^ The combination of light rum, lime, raw sugar and mint is fabulously refreshing on a stiflingly hot summer's day.=D I did think they could have muddled the mint and lime a bit more though.-_-"
The clouds were in people's favour most of the time, giving people maximum sun exposure before dark clouds came strolling along to block the sun [much to the delight of Brenda and I].
The sun shining through the clouds! ^_^ A beautiful sight I never get sick of, along with rainbows and the silver lining behind the clouds.^_^ We saw a rainbow today!!! ^_^ I was most excited. Haha. It was quite faint though so the picture I took [not featured] isn't very clear though you CAN still see it urh..faintly. ^_^"
It was a lovely day at the beach though next time, I'll hide under the numerous coconut trees which also provide good shade. Especially the short ones.xD I'd recommend Sentosa as the beach to go to instead of East Coast because it's less crowded, cleaner and is much prettier in general.=) You can also see the new developments popping up around Sentosa and the new attractions they are introducting to lure tourists. [Songs by the Sea was very popular, if you count the lines of people going to watch.] The only bad thing about Sentosa would be that you have to take a monorail to go there and food around there isn't very cheap. Still, it's a lovely place to spend the day and if I get a chance to, I'll definitely go to Cafe del Mar again.^_^
Hooray for a lovely day at the beach! And perhaps I should go hunt down some Cafe del Mar CDs to see if I really do like the music.^_^
cheers
*[-witchstone-]*
[music : THE FINAL Dir en grey]
[mood : ^_^ sunny!]
[food : mojitos!!! (not a food certainly, but yummy anyway)]
Liu-yi: I'm so glad you like the cookies!!! ^_^ My mom loves them too and always sneaks over to steal the ugly ones as they cool from the oven.=P They should keep for a while hopefully though my stocks have never lasted more than a couple of days...^_^ Do you prefer the almond ones or the non-almond ones? [I personally like the almond ones.]Labels: beach, Cafe del Mar, crescent, edibles, photo journey, Sentosa
Sunday, July 15, 2007
spoonerisms*inc!
Hello
Here I am, once again, to remind everyone of the new food blog set up by Wendy and I! =D =D =D
spoonerisms*inc
[click the words to go to the food blog] You can also find the link on the right column of this blog!
If you are a Livejournal member, please join the community for updates on your friends page.=)
Right now, we have a few posts up and I've posted reviews on Hanabi, Toast and more.^_^ There's also a great gnocchi recipe by Wendy that you should check out too!
I'll be posting more Japan and Shanghai food photos there as well as future food reviews [though I'll probably post the Singapore Food Odyssey here and there]. Wendy will be posting too and she's a much better writer than I am so look forward to that.^_^
Go read now!!!
I'm thinking of changing this layout soon so there may be changes soon.^_^
cheers
*[-witchstone-]*
[music : FANTASY alice nine.]
[mood : ^_^]
[food: Iced Lemon Tea from Toast!]
liu-yi: How were the cookies? *anxious look*Labels: food blog, misc
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Baking & Cleaning
Hello
Yesterday, Brenda and Calissa came over to Bake and Clean! xD So! Now part of my room is neat thanks to Calissa's fabulous skills and we've tons of baked products thanks to Brenda's urmmmm encouragement.^_^
First, I would like to apologise for the mostly very dark photos.X__x
I spent most of the morning and evening baking the Korova Cookies for my aunt in Vietnam.=D Batch after batch of chocolate cookies came out of the oven after I laboriously cut up the cookie dough to place neatly on the baking sheet like so:
Of course, these cookies are already baked. The unbaked ones are truly a horror to look at.X__x
I had 2 batches: One with merely chocolate chips another with chocolate chips and almond slices. And of course, because it's for my aunt, I used my darling and very precious Valrhona cocoa powder.xD Hehe. Great stuff! *thumbs up* Also, I ran out of brown sugar so I topped it up with maple sugar.=) I wouldn't use maple sugar next time though. The cocoa taste masks any delicate maple flavours.
The one with merely chocolate chips is quite sweet in my opinion. But the one with almonds is GREAT because the almonds cut through the sweetness quite a bit.^_^ Hooray! I'll definitely be making these with just almonds next time.
The cookie dough is a breeze to make, the only hard part being having to roll up the dough to let it rest in the fridge [for a couple of days] or freeze [up to 2 weeks]. Preparing the dough to bake is a whole different story on the other hand.
Because I usually freeze the dough [it's easier to make all the dough at once then bake over a weekday or something], it is a HORROR to cut. My poor hand has all the marks of the blunt side of the knife blade from pressing down while trying to cut through the dough. You CAN let it defrost a bit before cutting which makes it a little easier but on the whole, it's not that much easier. Haha.=P And it is a horror to cut and place on the baking sheet when completely defrosted.
In any case! I made 3 batches of cookie dough which turned out to be JUST NICE. I was only going to make 2 at first but decided that extras never hurt anyone. Thank goodness I made 3.O__o
Our makeshift cookie packing factory.xD My mom had the job of sealing the containers tightly. [So liu-yi! If it's tough to open, blame my mom. Haha.=P]
Besides the Korova cookies, I tried making the choux pastry from the Paris Sweets cookbook.
It looks fabulous before going into the oven and puffed up nicely but fell almost immediately after taking them out of the oven.X__x And they are extremely eggy and heavy, without the lightness of chouquettes that I was hoping for. (T_T)
I am sticking to Clotilde's [of Chocolate & Zucchini] recipe or my aunt's from now on...-_-"
We did have a chocolate fondue at night though, and the failed chouquettes tasted very good indeed when dipped into the chocolate.=)
Another 2 other cakes were baked! ^_^
We have here "Grandmother's Creamy Chocolate Cake" batter from Paris Sweets. To be honest, it is not so much a cake as a flourless chocolate cake and even that doesn't adequately describe this. It's most like fudge. Really yummy fudge.=D =D =D Mmm. Great stuff! I used the Premium Hershey's Baking Chocolate for this and it tasted great.. Can you imagine if I had used Valrhona? *_*!!!
It's definitely a dark chocolate fudge/creamy chocolate cake. Brenda found it a bit bitter but very nice.=) I thought it was a good attempt at fudge even if I hadn't been expecting fudge.
This recipe also let me try out a method I haven't done before: a bain-marie! ^_^ That is baking the cake which is sitting in a bigger pan filled halfway with water. The main purpose is so that the pan doesn't get all the direct heat but instead gets "gentle" heat that has to go through the water before it reaches the actual cake pan. Another thing is that it allows the baking environment to remain moist so you're cooking with "wet heat". It's kinda like steaming I guess, but doesn't rely ONLY on the heat of the steam to cook. It was a HORROR to remove from the oven and took some manouvering to get the pan out of the boiling hot water.X__x
Another recipe we tried was the Chocolate Almond Cake from Paris Sweets as well. I had great fun mixing it vigorously with a whisk.=) And I've also realised that my mixer isn't powerful enough to make fantastic stiff-peaked egg whites.(T_T) WEEPS. It took me almost 30-45 minutes to do it by hand which is a very bad thing to do in my opinion.
The end result is definitely full of almond flavour [no almond essence needed, just ground almond] and my mom really liked it. She did mention that the cake is a little dry though. Maybe I should bake it for a shorter period of time next time?
In between baking, packing cookies and eating [my happy companions ate up every last ugly cookie.-_-"], Calissa and I attacked the mess in my room with great gusto. Until the end at least, she was bursting with happiness that part of my room is finally neat while I was slowly withering onto the floor.O__o Well. At least my books are nicely lined up, my jrock preciousness is safely in a cupboard, away from sun and rain and half the crap that was on my shelves is safely in bags meant for recycling.
Brenda found wonderful examples of how you should NEVER write a Chinese essay among the junk.X__x I am beyond mortified to say the very least.
Unfortunately for me, most of my room is still covered in utter messiness so I think it'll take a few more attacks before it'll be clean and [mostly] dust-free.^_^ I have to learn to be more vicious with my stuff though and throw EVERYTHING that I know I will never need or miss out [and that's most of the stuff].
I love Calissa and her neatness! ^_^ Thank you my dear! And thanks Brenda for... helping! ^_^ And for documenting the mess in my room with Calissa's camera.-_-"
I would love to say that I'm going back to cleaning my room but that would be outright lying so... I'll just hope everything will be cleaned by next week.^_^
cheers
*[-witchstone-]*
[music : a little pain OLIVIA inspi'REIRA (TRAPNEST)]
[mood : Darker Than Black withdrawals]
[food : --] Labels: Chocolate Almond Cake, chouquettes, cleaning, Creamy Chocolate Cake, edibles, Korova cookies, misc, Paris Sweets
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Episode Two: Wang Wang Minced Pork Noodle!
Hello!
Time for another episode of.. Singapore Food Odyssey!!! I really should be posting this on the food blog but urm. I have to figure out logistics first. COUGHS.
Anyway. Way back in mid-June, my family and I went to Wang Wang Minced Pork Noodle which is located in the Joo Chiat/Katong/my dad's hometown area.^_^ Okay. I don't actually know exactly where it is but... I know it's near this Guan Yin Temple that I go to sometimes.xD Haha. It's also near the very famous Fei Fei Wanton Noodle store.^_^
At the Wang Wang Minced Pork Noodle store, you can also get Yong Tau Foo and great Teochew food. I didn't take photos of the Teochew food but it's really popular.^_^
The very popular Bak Chor Mee [Minced Pork Noodle] with Mee Pok [broad yellow noodles]. Minced Pork Noodles are served with minced pork [obviously], fishballs, fishcake slices, a piece of lettuce and beansprouts. This version also had a meatball and fried onions. The sauce is usually composed of a little oil, soy sauce, chilli sauce and vinegar among other yummy things.^_^
Because minced pork noodles are usually eaten "dry" [with a sauce], it comes with a side bowl of soup. Usually, you just get MSG-laden water with floating spring onions but here, you get a bowl of very porky liquid and floating spring onions. Not a bad thing to be fair, but I got a surprise when I tasted the soup and it tasted of pork.^_^
As usual, I was quite the rebel and had mine with kway teow [broad rice noodles] and no chilli. I much prefer the lighter taste of rice noodles to egg noodles [the yellow noodles] and have a low tolerance to the fiery chilli.
The fishballs were yummy! The kway teow wasn't too soggy which was good because most places have soggy kway teow which needs a shorter cooking time in comparison to yellow noodles. I can't say I know what the original tastes like, but my brother said it was pretty good.^_^
Yong Tau Foo. Not the traditional type but the type with sauce on top. [I can't quite remember the name.X__x] I liked the sauce which is quite thick and starchy but flavourful.=D I ate the fish cake! ^_^"
Sorry but I didn't take any photos of the Teochew food which looked rather urm. Unappetising.=X Well. Not unappetising but not very nice to photograph. We had 2 kinds of vegetables and steamed fish, a standard Teochew porridge dish.=)
Minced Pork Noodles! ^_^ I love Fishball Kway Teow. And some minced pork never hurt anyone.;) [Even though minced pork does contain rather scary amounts of fatty pork.=X]
If you're still hungry, you can head down the road to eat at Fei Fei Wanton Noodle [it's in a seriously grubby coffeeshop] or if you want some tea, you can buy one or two Nonya dumplings from Kim Choo Dumplings.^_^ It's the only Nonya dumplings I approve of and the only ones I can happily eat. No one else can make good Nonya dumplings! They have all the other types of dumplings though, like the Cantonese style ones or the red bean ones.^_^
If I get to go down to Katong again sometime, I'll hunt down my favourite tau kwa pau [Stuffed Tau Kwa which is a form of beancurd] and Nonya dumplings!!! [Kim Choo has pretty nice pineapple tarts too.=)] And of course, there's always the famous Chin Mee Chin Bakery which makes Kaya and all sorts of traditional baked products like the Cream Horn.^_^
And for dinner today, we had a guest over and had homemade Popiah and Kway Pie Tee! ^_^ [We bought the popiah skin and kway pie tee cups though.] Yummy!!
cheers
*[-witchstone-]*
[music : Recorded Butterflies OLIVIA inspi'REIRA(TRAPNEST)]
[mood : ^_^]
[food : popiah!]Labels: edibles, Kim Choo, minced pork noodle, nonya dumpling, popiah, Singapore Food Odyssey, Wang Wang
Too Many Updates
Hello
Technically, I'm cleaning my room now. But it's in a depressing state so... distractions are needed! And since I haven't updated in.. eons with anything proper/normal, I shall do a quick post and urm. Attempt to continue cleaning. Which is now working I might add. *coughs*
Shows I've been to recently:
- Jump
Martial art comedy from Korea. It was really funny and very well staged.=)
- Dim Sum Dollies: The History of Singapore
Singaporean humour with musical aspirations. Rather well staged and pretty funny. Against expectations, I rather enjoyed it.^_^ I think Hossan Leong is hilarious by the way.xD
TV:
- House Season 3
O hearts! xD I love House. Wee!
Books:
- Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami [or Murakami Haruki depending on which side of the pond you're from]
Great stuff.^_^ I think I'm liking his books more and more. He writes really well and manages to capture modern society within his novels extremely brilliantly.
- Manga!
I'm reading Vampire Knights which is great because all the guys are really goodlooking. The plot is looking interesting too and looks set to thicken as we discover more about the characters.
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles is heartbreaking as always and CLAMP can really make a fortune creating hot guys.xD xD xD
I'll be making food posts on spoonerisms*inc very soon.=)
cheers
*[-witchstone-]*
[music : mugen no hana alice nine.]
[mood : the weather is too hot]
[food : konnyaku! ALOE VERAAAA]
Jiamin: Urh. I thought it was relatively short already. Haha. And yay. Short post.Labels: Dim Sum Dollies, food blog, Haruki Murakami, House TV, Jump, misc, Tsubasa, Vampire Knights
Thursday, July 05, 2007
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Hello!
Happy Birthday Shou!!!
Today is Shou's birthday!!! ^_^ He's the vocalist of alice nine.^_^ I've no idea how old he is [unlike darling ol' Gackt] but I'm sure he ain't that old.xD
Also, I'd like to introduce a new food blog by Wendy and I!
Spoonerisms Inc.=) So from now on, I'll TRY my best not to flood this with food related posts and post there instead! You can visit it by clicking HERE.^_^
Anyway. As I mentioned yesterday, we went to watch The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (時をかける少女, Toki o Kakeru Shōjo). It was produced by Madhouse and released in Japan last year in July. The DVD is already out in Japan but hey. I suppose they needed time to put in subtitles.O__o This film also won a few awards! Like: Best Animated Film in the ANIMA'T category at the thirty-ninth Sitges International Film Festival of Catalonia, the first annual Animation of the Year prize at the thirtieth Japan Academy Prize and was recognized as "Animation of the Year" at the sixth annual Tokyo International Anime Fair.
Overall Impression:
Not bad I suppose and it built up a bit slowly. I thought the ending was terrible though and there were too many repetitions.
Storyline:
Konno Makoto is the protagonist of this story and she's a high school student in one of the old parts of Tokyo. She's really good friends with 2 guys, Kousuke and Chiaki, as well as her female classmate, Kazuko who is in love with Chiaki. Everything starts out normal until one day, when Makoto lost control of her bike and almost crashed into the subway train at a train crossing, she realised that she had actually leapt backwards in time to avoid that happening. The story thus follows Makoto as she experiments with her powers on petty things like getting a good grade on her test. Eventually however, she learns of how her actions can adversely affect others.
Animation:
Old school anime. Really. No fancy moves, no funny stunts. Just plain old animation without any weird deformities like anime. So kudos to them for consistency!
Voice-acting:
I don't know. Maybe it was the sound system but this was a little weird. Still, I think since it didn't jar my nerves, it was all good.=D
Music:
NICE.^_^ As usual, I loved the movie soundtrack. Hehe. I loved the song, I loved the music... It was all appropriate..^_^ Great stuff.
Characterisation:
Hmm. I suppose they did develop their characters pretty well, so much so that all of us got extremely annoyed when they tried to do self-denial things like, avoiding their feelings.
Overall?
This wasn't a pointless show. But I can't say I'd vote for it to be "Best Anime Movie of the Year". I think after watching so much Studio Ghibli movies, this one is just a teensy bit.. Hmm. They didn't really tie every knot together and left strings hanging all over the place. Unexplained strings. And that really annoyed me.-_-"
Oh! And today I've been watching House Season 3 which is great! Except for this really annoying detective. *nods*
And I also watched Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Hmm.. It moved along e-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y slowly.-_________-" I fell asleep twice. Literally. It also had that Studio Ghibli flavour to it except it a more raw form. That is not unpleasant I suppose but after watching films like Mononoke Hime, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, it's a little bland. And it wasn't cute like Tonari no Totoro. Plus, the animation isn't fantastic but it WAS made in 1984 so I can forgive it.^_^" O well. I'll plow my way through the Studio Ghibli archives. And then I'll see what gems they really have.
In other news.. I really should clean up my room. *looks at the mess* Urm. Maybe tomorrow..
cheers
*[-witchstone-]*
[music : RETURNER~Yami no Shuuen~ Gackt + Mugen no hana alice nine.]
[mood : house! house! house!]
[food : --]Labels: alice nine, birthday, food blog, House TV, movie review, Nausicaa, Studio Ghibli, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
