Mum, what do you like?

My mother-in-law's birthday falls on Boxing Day.

Though I have never tell her right in her face, I really do love my mum-in-law.

She's one amazing woman.

A beacon of inspiration for me.

And in all true honesty, I feel women of the older generation seem to have more super powers than us.

Maybe they are fed with some magical milk powder when they're babies.

Maids are non-existent in our mums' and grandmums' generation.

But they usually have more kids than us. 

Like half a basketball team. If not, almost the whole team.

Just imagine the amount of laundry, cleaning and cooking they have to do.

From dusk till dawn.

And there're the husbands who don't have to lift a finger.

It's tougher to be a full-time housewife than to be a full-time career woman.

So last week, while the Husband & I were discussing about Mum-in-law's potluck party, I asked the Husband.

"What does your Mum like to eat? I see if I know how to cook that for her birthday."

He looked at me. Blinked once or twice. And continued looking at me.

My eyes widened.

"You mean being her son of 30 over years, you DON'T KNOW??"

  "Then what does she like to drink? Or favourite soup?"

It wasn't a productive conversation.

Except for a lame reply, "Kopi."

The Husband doesn't even know how his mum likes her coffee or if she has any favourite brand.

Then the Husband threw the question back at me.

I stayed with my in-laws for 3 years.

But I didn't know what my mum-in-law likes too.

Mum always cook sweet and sour pork for my sister-in-law.

Sister is gaga over that.

Mum realises I like green leafy vegetables, so from the usual baby corn with canned mushrooms and sliced carrots, she starts buying xiao bai cai and cai xin.

The family likes mixed noodle soup (e.g. beehoon with kway tiao/yellow noodle) for lunches, so Mum buys more yellow noodles when she saw me passing my beehoon to the Husband who will then give me his yellow noodles.

Grandma-in-law knows I'm a Cantonese and have reiterated to Mum to cook more soups and learn from her sister-in-law if she doesn't know how to.

Never mind that Mum's soups are far from what I'm used to in my own family.

Her efforts to prepare soups almost daily really touches me.

The Husband said he had never drank so much soups by his mum before.

I always finish the pot of soup, no matter what.

And I bought Mum the filter ladle to lift up the oils from the soups.

That makes it easier.

Mum can remember all my favourite dishes and she goes through the trouble to cook them for me, even after we moved into our own place.

Like steamed minced pork with chestnuts.

I don't fancy peeling & chopping chestnuts.

I rather spend the time on TFL emails.

Mum minces the pork with her deft chopping skills on a wooden chopping board.

I thought it was easy till I sent a slab of lean pork flying across my kitchen.

And no matter how hard I try, my minced pork is never minced enough.
How can mincing pork with a chopper be so hard???

The Husband couldn't do it better either, despite his self-proclaimed He-man powers.
Thankfully, the pork seller at the market & Cold Storage get the job done upon request.

Father-in-law loves green bean with barley soup and some dishes that I can never understand.

We practically know what one another in the family likes.

Because Mum always cook it and tell us who it is meant for.

But no one has ever asked Mum what she likes.

I wanted to ask her during her birthday.

But I was so fascinated with the chocolate fondue fountain I rented for her party that I forgot.

Come to think of it, I don't know what my own mother likes, apart from chocolate cake & steamed fish.
My dad likes Kopi-O and...erm...
Oh, this is great.

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

Pre-X'mas D.I.Y

My geomancer have been telling me to put up some nice food photos in my home, like dim sum, desserts or fruits.

Sounds great, since I can't imagine my home having photos right out of a menu say, from a seafood restaurant or a steak house.

It was then I realised it's quite tough to find nice and affordable food photos.

My first thought was Ikea. Naturally.

Never thought Ikea is terrible at food photos.

There isn't any appealing food photos!
No, doesn't include those on the menu board at Ikea cafeteria.
I don't fancy staring at deep fried chicken wings or saucy meatballs in the middle of the night at home either.

So I turned to food blogs out of desperation.

Guess where I found the photos that fit the criteria of my geomancer? =)

If there's anything that Ikea can be counted on, it's pretty X'mas gift wrapping at a great price tag.

All the frills and frou.

 I have tons and tons of these at home.

And that's the pair of scissors that has cut so many parcel papers to wrap bulky bags.

S$2 a pair from Daiso. Love that mint green!

 Honestly, I' m not good at reading instructions.

Like my Dad, I just figured things out.

But here's wishing the Husband was around when I did this.

I don't keep my nails long so that it's easier & faster to check bags for posting.

And that makes it tough to lift up those little black hooks!

The ribbons were an impromptu add-on.

I thought the wooden frames look bland with just the photos.

Was wondering how to stick the ribbon to the frame.

I didn't have superglue or double-sided tape.

Resorted to sticking scotchtape at the back.

Thankfully, it holds up and doesn't damage the frame.

Forgot to fix the metal bits and hanging wire.

Had to unhook the whole back board again.

The agony of not having nails.

Fixing teeny-weensy metal stuff is not my favourite thing to do.

Making sure that the ribbon at the side are in place.

I like how the ribbons lay over each other.

The sides resembled a very thick book, don't they?

Tied 3 ribbons, thinking that the frames will look prettier with top bows.

But it proved to be too much.

So there goes my effort.

Think I didn't fix the 3M hooks well.

Must get the Husband to do it again, so that everything looks straight.
I'm really bad at this.

Thank you to Noobcook.com for kindly sending me the high resolution photos!

Your photos are mad gorgeous! So much better than Ikea's!
I developed them as 6R or 8R photos, if I remember correctly.

I promised the blog owner to show her how it would look when I hang the photos up.

That's my X'mas morning brunch!

Macaroni with roasted chicken shreds in Minestrone soup, a recipe adapted from Noobcook.com.

It was yummilicious! =))

I must make it a habit to put fresh flowers on my dining table.

And that's the Ipad the Husband received from his boss as a X'mas present.

Now he's never going to quit his job to help TFL.

Oh well, hope you have had a great X'mas weekend!

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

Heaven is a place on Earth

Marks & Spencers was my favourite store to hang out whenever I was in London or Manchester.

In UK, Marks & Spencer is like everywhere, together with Boots pharmacy (UK version of Watsons).

I can go round and round in the aisles of M&S and try to think of things to buy.
No qualms about braving the frosty weather enroute just to chill out at Marks & Spencer.

I love their supermarkets & their auto check-out counters.

Why doesn't Cold Storage do something like that?

The M&S in Singapore cannot be compared to UK's.

It's a pathetic version over here.

In UK, I realised there's loads of frozen/chilled ready-made food.

Came to a conclusion, either UK resturants are too pricey for most or dinner options are way too limited compared to Singapore.

The latter is quite true though.

So I would be staring at the salad bowls, making friends with the soups or wondering if the frozen sandwiches will wanna stayover in my room.

The sandwiches at UK are of a totally different spieces!

Totally unlike what we see at Subway here!

Just the variety of breads alone is mind-boggling.

I get so spolit by the wide choices in Europe that I no longer buy white sliced bread.

That, to me, just ain't proper bread.

Speaking of bread, if you follow my tweets, you might notice that buying Sunshine hotdog rolls has become a competitive race in my household.

The supermarkets around my area are always out of them in the late afternoon, but not Gardenia's.

I reckon because Sunshine hotdog rolls have no trans fat.

And that sets me wondering.

Does the bread & buns of bakeries like Bread Talk, Prima Deli and Four Leaves have trans fat?

Well, there is no sign in their shops that say no either.

And sadly, I just discovered my favourite Heinz baked beans has trans fat. =(((

First Choice doesn't, but it's hard and not as yummy.

#lifeistough

Aah, 言歸正傳！

Main point of this entry is to rave about the unbelievably delicious M&S Extremely Chocolatey Chocolate Cornflakes Bites!!!!

My goodness! I couldn't believe how yummy it is!

If it wasn't at S$10.90 per tub, I wish I can have one tub everyday!!

It's mini cornflakes dipped in milk chocolate!!

Very addictive!!

And that's half of the original content!

Only thing that can put me off is there tend to be some stuck in my teeth.
And there's trans fat.

Yes, the latter sounds lame.

But hey! It's S$10.90 for one tub!

And it's not even fully filled!

I might just get more milage if I buy a pint of Ben & Jerry's.

My friend was asking why I would buy this when I prefer dark chocolate.

Well, this is manufactured in UK, hence the price, and most importantly, the milk chocolate from UK is different from that made in Asia.

M&S's version is awesome!!

I love all of M&S snacks & biscuits!!

Wish they have a mini supermarket in Singapore too!

By the way, in case you're wondering, the M&S Dutch shortcake is nice but not quite my cup of tea. =)

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

In a whirlwind

 Finally managed to roll out the new launch!

Have you seen it yet?

Go see it! I gave up my sleep to get it out!

http://tianfenlan.blogspot.com/p/new-in-store.html 

This is my favourite bag from the collection.
Love the bright bright red!
 It has been so long since TFL brought in red bags.
And I like the loud red this bucket bag comes in!
A great accessory for CNY, if you are not into red clothes!

I remember my auntie used to have a LV monogrammed bucket bag when I was a kid.
Those bags were like everywhere!
I didn't really know how to appreciate.
Ever since bucket bags roll back into fashion, I'm a convert!
Piggies have been pairing almost all TFL bags with dresses nowadays.
But don't you think such buckets bags will surely look great with high-waist shorts, swirly floral skirts or skinny pants too?

My next favourite colour for the Stella Bucket!
Toyed with the idea of naming the colour Yam.
That's what my supplier referred to it as.
How adorable!
But not sure if my customers will feel so too.
So it's Lavender.

I like how the 2 gold ball of tassles add a dressier feel to the bag.
Not the usual drawstring ends.
The bag quality is better than what it seemed from the photos.

My mum's favourite way of placing orders with Tian Fen Lan.
Wonder how she knew I launched a new collection yesterday.
Maybe she signed herself up for TFL mailing list.

Mum has a penchant for small bags.
This clutch is even prettier in real life!

Got the photos only on last Fri night.

Sat evening was spent at Grandpa-in-law's 82nd birthday party.

The Husband spent almost an hour doing next year's fengshui audit for his Grandpa's bedroom.

He's a noob at it. I'm better. Haha!

It was a potluck party.

Inspired to do one for my mum-in-law's birthday on Boxing Day. =)

Baked salmon with mixed herbs & basil pesto!

Watercress soup with carrots & red dates!

I've already thought of the dishes!

The Husband is going to cook curry chicken.

I rarely cook for my in-laws. But for Mum-in-law, I will do it!

She likes my food better than my father-in-law.

Was out whole day for lessons on Sunday.

Came back with a splitting headache that spills onto Monday.

My ponytail is getting too long & heavy for my own good.

Need to go Salon Vim soon.

Moi wanna do big curls!

Kept my hair so long just for that!

But spending 3 hours at the salon sounds like a luxury I cannot afford to splurge on with my tight schedule.

And there's parcel posting from the weekend orders.

Came home with roast chicken for dinner.

When done with housechores, started working on the photos at 10pm.

And it stretched all the way till 930am, because the mailing list server screws up.

Then it's bedtime.

Back to the mails at 4pm, feeling disorientated from the wacky sleeping time.

Had a quarter of roast chicken with Barilla pasta, sprinkled with mixed herbs, salt & olive oil.

Didn't even have time to do aglio olio with my wok.

Bolted out of the house at 730pm to collect shipment of new stocks.

Stuffed & measured bags for photoshoot on Wed ensued.

2 new models. Mega amounts of bags & clothes.

We're all crossing our fingers that the photos will turn out right & on time.

Always slightly apprehensive when there're new elements in the equation.

Then, arranged the messy inventory as neatly as I can.

But there's just too many.

Back home at 120am.

Hit the showers, did my chanting homework, fired up the laptop & continue fighting with the emails at 210am.

All the time wondering why I can work such insane hours.

The crazy things I do for my love.
Like what LB's Velda wrote on her blog, "I'm in love and always will be."
Albeit different context, I'm sure.

Now I should sleep.

But my stomach is terribly hungry after all the laborious work.

Saw this on the Husband's Facebook.

And for the life of me, I couldn't figure out where he was.

Thankfully, there's FB tags. =D

Wished there's Facebook when I was a teenager.
I would have spammed my Facebook a/c with the class photos, instead of throwing them away.
Digital memories take up less space.

The Husband is very proud of his ECA days.

So much that he used to write in his resume about how he led the team to win a foot-drill competition.

Lucky he doesn't read my blog.

I wish there's curry puffs in my fridge.

出前一丁麻辣面 is nice too, but that needs to on the stove & washing up.

The Husband cooks amazing instant noodles.

Maybe I should go wake the Husband up.

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

Hey Happy, where are you?

 Thought this was mad amusing when I saw the pics in the Husband's Iphone.

That's Happy, his family dog.

The Husband's younger sister loves dogs. All kinds of them.

Happy was a present from her husband to her and now a family dog.

She bought the Ikea dog as a companion for Happy.

Once when sister-in-law dropped by my place, I turned around to find her at the gate of my neighbour's home, making friends with their big pet dog.
He's really big. If he stands on his hind legs, he's almost as tall as me. *gasp*
She was baby-talking to the dog and calling him by his name, engraved on his collar.
I didn't even know the dog's name then.

The Husband gleefully showed the photos to his 83-year-old Grandpa.
“公，你猜哪一只是真的？”
After a few seconds,
“那只比較黑的咯，對嗎？”

 I'm convinced I married into a family of jokers.

From the latest launch, I'm beginning to feel the heat of the festive peak hitting TFL.

Think from now till CNY, it would be a mad whirlwind.

On Wednesday, at least 10 hours of my waking hours were spent on the inbox, packing parcels, rushing to the PO and then back to stuffing & measuring bags for the next photoshoot.

All I ate on Wed was a Happy meal of chicken nuggets and half a pack of Nachos.

No proper food. By the time I'm done with everything, I'm too tired to eat.

It was a mad mad day.

On the launch day, the mailing list server was rejected by Hotmail.

Thousands of rejected mails flooded TFL's inbox. I had to key in one email by one email into a new mailing list server for almost 15 hours.

Data entry. Arrgh.

My right hand/fingers/wrist/forearm is still hurting from all the million times of clicking.

By the time I thought of a more brillant way to speed things up, I was already halfway done.

I recognise so many regulars' emails. So many are Hot(mail) babes!

Not complaining though, I really enjoy working for Tian Fen Lan. =D

Can go on and on and on and on, skip all meals & even drinking water and just be glued to the TFL inbox or mad packing parcels.

I love my job. Spinning dreams in the shape of bags.

Sometimes after a bad day at whatever, getting back to TFL inbox cheers me up.

These days, after parcel posting, I have a new-found snack.

Prima Deli plain waffle! With a can of Coke, of course. *grins*

I love their Choc fudge cake at S$4.60 per block. Cheap & good for chocoholics.
Nowadays, you pay more for a slice of good chocolate cake than a Happy meal.

While buying a waffle the other day, I saw a number of customers buying their D24 Durian Fudge cake.

In rectangular blocks too! Think it's less than S$10.

Never knew of its existance till now.

I like durian. Going to try it one day.

Think I'm going to grow more muscles after X'mas.

I want my chocolate log cake.

 

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

做人難，做blogshop的人更難

At TFL, one thing that never changed all these years is there will always be random strangers asking for a discount.

Okay, not exactly strangers.

They can be your friend's cousin's ex-neighbour's colleague's sister-in-law's Pilates classmate

You get the drift.

Emails are sorta anonymous.

The most personal thing I will know about the shopper is only the mailing address.

Although Gmail now shows a photo of the email holder, most of the time, I can't make out the face either.

The picture is that tiny.

As we all know, with anonymity comes courage.

The courage to ask for things that you won't dare to ask in person.

The courage to ask for things that you shouldn't.

"I'm buying for the first time, do I get a discount?"

No, no first-timer discount.
This is not a facial trial, whereby after that, you get thrown into a pressure cooker to sign for a package, so that the salon can make back the money they sacrificed by giving you a 50% discount.

"I'm XXX (some famous blogger)'s blog reader, discount for her reader?"

If there is, I would have stated so in the advertorial with the blogger.
That would have been a fairer way, wouldn't it?

"I'm buying 2 bags, got discount?"

Honestly, if there is, I will state so on TFL's site.
You're not the only customer who buys 2 bags.
There are girls who buy 4-5 bags at one shot.
I must be fair to all.

"I'm XXXX's so and so, got discount?"

Pull ranks, like what we used to joke.

The thing is, you won't walk into Charles & Keith and tell the cashier you are Keith's kindergarten playmate or Charles' ex-girlfriend and think you deserve a discount for old times' sake, would you?
I bet the cashier will just tell you to spend S$300 (support lah, since you all once so close!) and get a Charles & Keith membership card.
She might also be tempted to suggest buying your shoes from CK department store.

And of course, there will be shoppers who write semi-lengthy emails explaining why I should give them a discount.
That really need some guts there. The guts to be reckless.
I have the same amount of guts to tell them why they are not deserving of a discount too.
Politely, of course.

The S$1 discount TFL Facebook Fan Page promotion has been going on for a while, yet strangely, there are still shoppers who will email asking for a discount.
Without taking part in the Facebook promotion.

"If you give me discount, I will tell my friends about Tian Fen Lan and bring you more business."

This is like bribing me.
I just don't think you will do that work for a few dollars off.
If you really do, what's going to happen when all your friends come and ask me for discount?

"My friend asks if got discount, haha."

How is it "haha" when asking for something that is to your personal advantage?

Funny? Amusing? Hilarious?

Making a joke out of...?

I'm not sure who need to think twice here.

The proxy that is asking, or the 'friends' who egged the proxy to ask.

And after I replied, most become deadbuyers.

 
A blogshop is a low-margin-high-volume business.
If you don't hit high volume, you are dead.
We watch our costs tightly because mistakes too often can be fatal.
If everything sell, great.
But not everything sell.
Sometimes, it's luck when you hit jackpot with one nondescript item that morphs miraculously into a hotseller.
Other times, it can be pure 'suayness' when you bank on this item to fly off the shelves but end up stuck.
So profit from the hotsellers are sometimes used to cover the losses of 'cold-sellers'.

That's how a business works.

People who ask for discounts might not be those who are concerned about my shop's profitability and sustainability.
They might be thinking well, you have been around for a while so should be good! Aiyah, a bit discount only what.
That's taking things for granted.

TFL didn't get to here by being casual with price reduction.

Point is, if I go around giving discounts just because you ask, I might as well close down Tian Fen Lan.
That is a lousy and unreputable way to earn your money.
I would have been extremely unfair to those who never ask.
Be it whether they don't dare or simply they don't see the need to.

Yes, I would rather lose the deal than to succumb to such pressure.
有一次就一定會有第二次。
Then how am I going to run my business proper?

Source: Google images

Remember Nanz Chong, the founder of the $1.99 store?
She wrote in her book that one huge problem she faced was when she employed relatives to work for her.
They would be opening up the snacks (the store's products!) to eat while working and more.
That definitely eat into the profitability of her business.

This reminds me.
We, the blogshop owners, can also start a series of books.
True Singapore Blogshop stories.
Or, one blogshop 101 unfair encounters (the people who ill-treat us. Hahaha!)
We also can be the #1 National bestseller or have our 1st print sold out in 3 weeks or maybe even less!
Publishers, you hear us?

Everyone loves a good deal.
But to be greedy about it is another thing.

And you know what?

The true regulars of Tian Fen Lan have never asked for a discount.

Most of them don't even participate in TFL Facebook Fan Page promotion.

Another group of people has never ever ask me for any discount too.
.
.
.
.
.

My friends.

That's Ei Leen. My team girl from SQ.

The big brown and mustard bags she's holding are the famous N09 Herms Bag that are always out of stock no matter how many times I stock them in.

Think I've sold at least a couple of hundred of them.

They're no longer listed on TFL site, in case you're wondering.

Gotta love this girl for her eccentric and quirky wardrobe!

I'm totally in love with her style! So un-Singaporean! So inspiring!

Even when overseas, she would be totally dressed up and a walking fashionista.

I don't know how she pack that luggage of hers.

I was over the moon when she placed her order through TFL online order form.

Go stalk her on her fashion blog and check out her online store, Raw Raw Rad!

Not for the faint-hearted.

She has bought about 5-6 bags from TFL.

Never once did she ask for a discount.

Nor any odd favour, just because we're great friends.

That's Johnathan. A friend I knew for more than 10 years. *gasp*

Never ask him for permission to plonk his pic here, but since his face is in a helmet, I reckon it should be okay.

He probably doesn't even know of my blog's existence anyway. Hahaha!

This boy registered his marriage on 11.11.11. Congrats, newly wed!

He texted me a week before his wife's birthday.

TFL certainly has a number of male shoppers, but I just never thought one of them will be my guy friend!

Guess what Johnathan ordered for his lovely wife?

.

.

.

.

.

He picked the bestsellers from Series 60!

On his own! Without anyone's help!

To think I was all prepared to ramble on a list of "Things to consider when getting a bag for your wife."

Johnathan, all these years, how come I didn't know you have designer taste in bags???

Why didn't you teach my Husband???

(They are NS mates.)

He initially ordered the Zara Shopper in Bubblegum Pink, but his email came in 3 hours after the launch.

Too late, mate!

We were hoping that there would be deadbuyers, but no, everyone wanted the Bubblegum Pinks for real.

In his words, "i think personally i like the simple design of the 6002. the other is the typical trendy ones."

Did he just refer to TFL bags as 'typical'?

Oh well, at least he said TFL has trendy bags.

So girls, if you are thinking of which bag to get & highly to be approved by your boyfriend/husband, 6002 Zara Shopper is the one!

I couriered the parcel to Jonathan's office, even though he opted for registered mail.

True friends want to see you succeed in whatever you pursue.

I'm really thankful for them. =)

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

Nice to see you again!

Hi there! *waves*

Thank you for checking back now and then!

I'm back here blabbering again! =D

I've been so busy with the annual 3-day mega pujas at Bishan last weekend.

And this week is totally consumed by packing of restocks & backorders!

It has been at least half a year, I think, since I did backorders.

Stopped for a while and now with the new site almost ready & the festive peak coming, backorders are back at TFL!

That means endless packing round the clock.

But most importantly, more happy customers who will get what they covet! \^_^/

Just yesterday, I was packing BOs for a record 5 hours.

Been so long since I pack BOs that I almost forgotten how it is like to spend an entire day doing nothing but 包 bags.

And I have a habit of packing parcels while standing up.

I find that I do things faster that way. =D

Made 3 trips to the Post Office to shoo everything out!

So glad everything ran smoothly!

Rained almost the entire afternoon but only caught in the rain once. 

Lucky lucky!

This time, I made sure my slippers had a firm grip on the wet ground before running off.

Still get a bit of phobia when I see wet grounds.

There's so many things I wanna share with you all!
But I'm not in my most coherent mode at this hour.
So busy this week that I can't launch the TFL Label bag on Sunday, as I would like to.
Never mind, I'm gunning up for this Sunday!!!
*fingers & toes all crossed*

Recently, I have been heading over to Conrad Oscars Cafe for late-night dinner.
Ya, after-work dinner at midnight. -___-
That's the other 24-hour hotel cafe I mentioned about!
Food there is not as great as Carlton Hotel's Mosaic Cafe. Slightly pricier.
Neither is their American-style service anything to brag about.
But the fruit juices are one of the best I have ever had!

They serve in 3 sizes! That's the small size.
Best of all, they do not add sugar to the juices!

Kopitiam (that food court chain) adds sugar syrup and water to its honeydew juice, btw.
Saw with my own eyes and I asked. -___-

The Husband was having some 5 Green juice concoction from their menu - celery, spinach and don't know what other 3 greens.
I was having Orange with Carrot.

Once, the Husband had a juice concoction that has ginger in it.
Eww, ginger with fruit juice???

The Husband has so much fun trying out all their different juice concoctions, every time we are there, that it is totally beyond me.

I'm a Taurus. I don't like too many changes. Even in my food.
*bleah*

Did you see it??
That X'mas tree!!

Gosh, I'm so smitten by the X'mas tree of Conrad bears!
What a beautiful and adorable creation!

4 different sizes of Conrad bears, sitting on one another's shoulders and heads!
The whole tree is slightly out of shape with all the protruding bear tummies & paws. Hahaha!
The bears look so happy to be squashed together, like one big happy family!
Mad cuteeeeee!

They should have top it off with a shining star!
That would have completed the look and the tree won't look so dull at the top!
The Husband suggested a Santa's hat with lights, to cap things off!
Ingenious idea!

Sorry I couldn't resist.

I want a bear hug!!!

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu