HAPPY PLANTS 開心苗

On Saturday, we were shopping at Sembawang Shopping Centre when the Husband spotted this.

Sorry for the blurry pic!

The Husband was attracted by the crowd and dragged a tired me over.

These adorable Big Bird's head lookalike plants were drawing crowds by the throngs! That explains my 'overcast' photo. 

At first, I thought they were ordinary indoor plants, packaged to be small, portable & really easy to take care, but guess what?? They are actually DRAGON FRUIT PLANTS!! Yes, that dragon fruit that we eat!

The seller, Ken, was explaining to us how they shrunk the plant biological makeup by 50 times, so that the plants would stay small & not overgrow into the real dragon fruit tree which looks like this.

They restrict the amount of nutrients fed to the plant by using coconut husks in the pots. There is no fertilizers and no soil so that they won't attract insects. Since there is no insects, no one would have to kill intentionally or unintentionally. So these made the plants really vegetarians!

I really think this is such an innovative idea! The pot is cute and handy to move around. Almost everyone like seeing some greens around, be it at home or at office! It would be great if there are different sizes for people to choose though. I have this huge dining table at home and this small pot looks kinda miserable on it. A medium pot would be great!

Low maintenance aside, another amazing thing about this Happy Plant is it ABSORBS radiation! They did this experiment with 2 plants where they put Plant A besides a computer at the work place and Plant B at a room near the window with sunlight exposure.

After 6 months, Plant A looks like:

Wow, really look like dragon fruit plant! But Plant B still looks pretty much the same. Ken claimed that showed the plant strive on radiation instead of sunlight and how this Happy Plant is not just pretty to look at but really useful to have around too.

This is my first time seeing this plant and knowing its capabilities. Though I'm well aware that plants can help improve indoor air quality, I have no idea that some can absorb radiation from our electrical devices and grow. Now, why don't the electronic shops start putting more of such plants around for the sake of its staff too?

I chose the Happy Plant 'Live' for the Husband to put in his office! It costs S$22 for this pot. A plastic round tub is also provided for watering the plant every 15 days. You are to fill the plastic tub with water to the half-level mark and put the whole pot in the tub. There's a hole at the pot base and the coconut husk would absorb the water in 5 minutes. Really cool!

We asked if the plants were genetically modified to stay so small but Ken said he's a Christian and he didn't believe in such work. So do we! So these Happy Plants are really au naturel and organic!

They are expected to live 1-1.5 years. And after which, you can bring the pot back to Green Inn Organic Plant and buy a new dragon fruit plant for half price. Oh man, I would be really sad to see it die!

By the time we left Sembawang Shopping Centre at 10plus at night, there were still onlookers at the stall. 開心苗好有攝召力哦！

Randomly, while Googling for how dragon fruit plants look like, I stumbled upon this pic of cutting the dragon fruit such that it resembles a lotus. How quaint!!

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

THE GOWN WAREHOUSE

I'm real excited for my sister-in-law who set up this new venture with her partner.

Looking for affordable wedding gowns or DND gowns? You won't walk away disappointed!

Will be paying The Gown Warehouse a visit over the weekend and I will be back with more pics to share with you ladies!

Here's one of my favourites from their Facebook Page!

Have a wonderful week ahead, girls! And in case you didn't know, TFL's latest launch is up at www.tianfenlan.com! =D


Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

SLEEPING LIKE A LOG

Once in a while, I get so exhausted from work that I make time to sleep in.

Which means being sleep-dead like a log for 12 hours straight.

Coupled with my phone dying out due to no charging, this is what happened.

 

For some silly reason, the Husband panicked and got the brother to help. (I KO-ed at my in-laws place because we were supposed to have dinner there but I did not inform the Husband my whereabouts.)

 

 

And the day before, I posted this on my Instagram.

Sometimes I think I marry a clown who likes nothing more than making me laugh at his silly antics.

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

FAN GIRL CONVERSATIONS

I had this fan girl crush on Jet Li recently after rewatching 中南海保鏢 on Youtube.

That explains the recent late night movie marathons on Youtube, catching up on all his past movies and just to ooh and aah at my crush.

The next day, I had to explain to the Husband why I looked so starstruck while staring into my phone.

Me: You know why don't you go learn martial arts?

Husband: Hahaha, you want me to be like Jet Li ah?

Me *squint my eyes*:  But I think you need to slim down first. Your frame is too big for a martial arts person.

Husband: Ya, like Kungfu Panda!

Somewhere along the gleeful conversation, something struck me.

Me: Why is it that when 男人認真在做東西時，就被認爲帥? Like how when Jet Li is very serious in his roles and he looked so handsome. 而女人在認真做事時，好像不會被說為美麗或漂亮?

Husband: Well, because the definition of women's beauty is not about their seriousness.

Me: Huh, why ah? I mean doesn't dedication counts?

Husband: Yes, but oh well...

Me: I know...男女是不太會平等的。 




Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

1ST CHEQUE FROM NUFFNANG

Regular blogger, I am not.

Neither did I set out to monetize this blog or make any effort to drive traffic to this space of mine.

So it's a sweet surprise to know that my blog earnings have reached a low three-digit, after 150 posts.

To Nuffnang, thank you for giving us this opportunity to earn extra income and keeping your ads clean and engaging.

To all my blog readers, thank you for making time to read my blog and clicking on the ads that you like. I hope you find your time here well spent. And yes, go put some Nuffnang ads on your blogs if you haven't!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!


Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

JUST THINK ABOUT IT

Saving the world, one thought at a time.

On one Saturday afternoon, I happened to read the Straits Times. It really happened, as in, it's not my habit to read the papers. With so things on my to-do list everyday, reading the news is the last thing on my mind. But I was sitting in the living room, waiting for the Husband to be ready, before we head out and with nothing much to do, I casually flipped through the papers, only to be totally fixated 5 mintues later.

Throughout my whole life, I always feel I am not an exceptionally bright person. You know how we will know someone who's really quick in his thinking, witty, have brillant ideas ever so often and probably have a place or two in some high IQ club? Well, I'm not one of them and I always ask myself why can't I think in the same pattern as them? I remembered when I was a kid, I find reading the papers a chore. Every other news did not interest me much. It was a horrifying moment when I had to learn to write argumentative essays in secondary school. What happen to just spinning fanciful stories out of my head, just like primary school? I used to ace my English but once I did General Paper in junior college, it was so god-damn painful. I can't write factual stuff well, nor did I have much of a stand in world issues and opinions. I force myself to read the Straits Times, just so that I can be better at GP. But the left side of my brain somehow didn't have functioning brain cells for that. 

Till this day, I remained amazed at how brilliantly wired some people's brains are. On a philospical level, I am in awe of Confucious, Buddha, my Grand Master Lu etc. On a business level, I will stand up in ovation for the people behind Ikea, MacDonald & Coca-Cola and more.

Prior to reading this article, I was catching up on my old books to remind myself the power behind our thoughts. What you think, you attract. I wanted to be more in control to direct my thoughts to where they should be and not the other way round.

So reading this news article got me really excited. What a timely reminder that we are really more powerful than we think we are!

ColaLife

THIS is my favourite idea!! Because it involved my favourite drink, Coca Cola!!

Did you know diarrhoea is the second biggest killer of children? WHO statistics show at least 760,000 infants die due to that, even though it is totally preventable & curable!

And why does the rural village provision shop stock Coca-cola but not simple medicine salts? (Yeah, why??)

Why is Coca-Cola able to reach almost every other distant village and "how can we learn from that and cover those last, crucial miles to reach that child?"

You can click on the photo to magnify the article for easier reading. In short, a British aid worker thought of a brilliant way to transport medicine and other necessities to the needy in Zambia, by leveraging on the supply network of Coca Cola. Simply because there are gaps & unused spaces in a crate of Coke! How did he even think of that?? It was pure ingenuity!

www.packforapurpose.org

Here's a similar idea that I love so much too! What a kind gesture to be using our baggage space allowance to help transport supplies to the needy!

I visited the website of Pack for a Purpose and was pleasantly surprised to see that they really cover many countries, including South East Asia.

http://www.packforapurpose.org/

Wow, I didn't know 400 pencils is only around 2.27 kilos.

I'm gonna bear this in mind and next time when I travel, I hope to help out.

www.homelessworldcup.org

Pretty sure the international language of women will be shopping. 

www.roomtoread.org

I was a librarian during my secondary school days. Not quite an exciting CCA but I loved it to bits. I like being surrounded by books and every time when I report for duty, I would be doing data entry as the school was installing a computerised system for the library. I was surrounded by books (tattered and scotch-taped, because I would read them over and over again for years) at home and again at school. Life was great. 

I can't imagine growing up without books. After I got married and moved, my home now has an entire wall of books. From ceiling to floor. Easily more than 200 books. If I have it my way, I would have the entire living room transformed into a library of books. But oh well, there's the Husband and his hobby of kicking a small ball around to think about.

 

www.roomtoread.org

 

I am of the belief that no one should be deprived of an education, no matter how poor you are. 

I was once a poor kid and government subsidies helped put me through school. Without an education, I would have never had a chance to make things right in my life. Or even be blogging here, for that matter of fact.

I had given free tuition to children I know who are less privileged. I was in hope that one day they will live a life very much different from their parents and with that power, they too can lift their parents out of poverty. The only problem is to break that pattern of thinking needs years of effort.

Once, I was having this random conversation with someone. We were on the topic of doing good and the person said she did good every month. I was fairly surprised because not many people bothered. And then she said, "Every month, the company deducts a 1% of my basic pay to Community Chest."

I was like...%#*@. 

No, I don't mean money donation is not vital. But if that 1% is the only thing you remember doing good for the entire year, then something is not quite right, isn't it?

Or the other time, I had another conversation with another acquaintance. And the only good he remembered doing was 5 years ago. Perhaps he forgot the smaller acts of good that he have done. I hope.

It can be donating blood regularly, it can be running for a cause, it can be leveraging on your personal network and starting your own fundraising campaign on your birthday instead of asking for lavish gifts, it can be even making an effort to recycle and reduce the usage of paper/plastics.

My model has this aspiration of being a speech therapist for autistic children. She spent her holidays working at a special school and is now taking up sign language, so that she can learn to communicate better with autistic children. I once asked her why she wanted to do all these - a career that is not mainstream and with her looks and education, surely many other career options are available too. I can't recall her exact words but I left the studio remembering she just wished to help.

The older I get, the more I can't be contented with just using my time and abilities for making money or like many of my friends, being busy with their children. I realised a couple of years ago, I won't be happy raising children and fending after them, just because they are from my factory. That's easily 10-20 years of my life investment. I might not be as bright as many people, but there must be something else I can do to bring happiness and transformation to people beyond my family. No one has to fit into a mold of how life should be led. 

All this need is a thought to make a difference, to think for others. With a gazillion thoughts running though our minds every second, surely it can't be that difficult to think of something good, right?

人如果只為自己而活，未免也太無聊了。

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

LOST IN TRANSLATION I

Where have you been all my life?

Over the Vesak weekend, I spent 6-7 hours daily doing translation works. Apart from doing my daily prayers practice at home, I didn't go for the usual celebratory activities. I wanted to use the time to do something for Buddhism instead. Think that would make Buddha happy too, no?

I would be in the bedroom on my small hot pink plastic table (and I mean, really small, like this S$12 foldable tray table from NTUC), sitting on my lime Ikea stool (I think it's meant for kids), voraciously churning out lines and lines of translated words. 

The Husband would be in the living room, sitting at the long dining table, either editing my works or doing the translation for other articles that I asked him to. If I had any word/sentence structure I'm unable to translate, I would snap a pic of my screen and watsapp him. The Husband's English proficiency is way better than mine (how can his mind work so quick?!), but I win hands down at being more meticulous in translating the original content without losing its intended meaning.

It was an awesome long weekend to be doing something literary, though it's not literature. I can't remember the last time I squeezed my brain muscles this much. TFL work is fun but this brings back so many memories of how I slough during my uni days, rushing projects after projects, assignments after assignments.

I only wish we have a super duper long work table in some big home office room so that the Husband & I can sit side by side to do this translating work so that I can pester him to death and work less.

I like the colour scheme but please give me some curtains or my eyes gonna melttttt!

Who says island tops can only be used in the kitchens?

Top favourite!

Modern vintage style is so pretty!!

Pictures credit: Google images

I would have at least 8-10 tabs opened on my Firefox. There's this Buddhist dictionary, Nciku.com for Chinese-English translations, Google search (ploughing through the entire web for translations if Nciku is not good enough), the original article I'm translating, my inbox, this tab of English Grammar (I'm thinking I should buy that Cambridge grammar book from Popular), sometimes Buddhanet and many other sites that I found just to translate that one tricky phrase. And of course, Open Office (I don't use MS Office. Open Office is free.)

I can really do this day in day out. 

Suddenly, it seemed like the past 20 years of education all make sense after all. 

We are blessed to be bilingual. I might still need a proper dictionary and a grammar guide. Just in case.

But I was pretty brain fried after that long weekend and had to stay off translating long articles for a few days. Jeez, I should have done more Sudouku for some brain yoga to keep it in shape. 

The other day, there was this sentence I had to translate: 大家看看，想想短暫又脆弱的人生...

  

I read it out loud from my phone (Inbox) and asked the Husband, "How do you say 短暫 in English?"

My brain was freezing after doing too many translations at one go.

The Husband replied, "Short-lived!"

"Short-lived? I thought there's a better word for it in Buddhism!"

"Temporary? I think it's either short-lived or temporary!"

"Sure or not? Sounds strange. Cannot anyhow translate. Can you be a bit more serious or not?"

"I'm serious! Who says I'm not serious? I don't look serious meh??"

"How about 脆弱?"

"BRITTLE!" He said it with so much conviction.

"Brittle? Sounds like bones advertisement. Like, brittle bones, please drink Anlene!"

"No, I'm very sure it's BRITTLE!"

"Then what? You mean like 'Everyone think think and see see how life is short-lived and brittle'? Or 'Life is temporary and brittle'? Like very 苦like that."

"Yes, you got it right! Life is 苦 what in the eyes of the Buddha. "

"I don't believe you."

Final translation - Let's take a look and think about how transient and fragile life is...

  

Sometimes Google translate works better than a human brain.

Just sometimes.

Anyone out there can figure out what the English term for 知音 is?

Metta, 

欣雨 Xinyu

EVERY DAY IS A GOOD DAY

If tonight never end. If tomorrow never come.

My love for instrumental music probably started from Yanni or Kitaro, when I was in my secondary school days and their music were all the rage for being revolutionary.

The other day in the Husband's car, I was surprised to hear a somewhat familiar piece of piano music playing. It has been so long since he played that CD that both of us forgot how much we used to love instrumental music. They are the kind of music that no matter how many years later you listen to them, they still sound so classic.

Asian pianist composers are different from the Caucasians, in that their music are a tad more delicate in their emotions.

My all-time favourite musical instrument is the piano. I think because I'm such a sucker for emo music.

I'm still not giving up hope that one day, I will have the chance to learn it.

It's really true, you know. When you think about something, send out a thought, somehow or rather, the Universe will send it your way. Sometimes it takes days, months and years. Depends on how much you want it. And if you really deserve what you want. 

The CD was from 6 years ago, at least. It was so deja vu to hear it all over again, raking up a lot of memories. Especially when we were on a long drive home and hearing the music soothed my heart and calmed my nerves.

Have you ever tried relaxing yourself? Like letting loose that grip on your hand, really slowing down the activity in your brain, relaxing your facial muscles (you would be surprised at how much you are frowning) and even stretching those toes of yours. Whenever I do that, I can't help but ask myself why.

Why am I so tensed up about?

What is bothering me?

為甚麽我過的不自在？我要怎麽樣才能夠自在？

It's not about the money. It's not about the possessions. It's not about the people.

If I ask this in those public forums, I can half imagine some of the cynics will blame it on the government. That's too convenient.

We can always live a life that's out of the mould. It's just whether we want to. I vouch for that because my adult life is nowhere near the standard Singapore mould.

And if you choose to live a cookie-cutter life, it's your choice. Don't whine.

Show you a pic of the CD we have next time! I forgot to snap a pic of it!

But I found her music on Youtube. Didn't know their titles (everything was in Japanese) so I had to scour through tens of it to find those that I like to share with you girls!

西村 由紀江  Yukie Nishimura is a Japanese pianist whose piano style is light and easy to listen to. I goggled for her details and wow, she's already 46!

手紙 Letter

This music was a inspiration for a Cantonese song by Eason Chan but I'm not sharing it here. Because I still prefer the piano music. Once such a beautiful piece of composition is made into a pop song, the sincerity behind seems to take a backseat.

鏡花水月

And while trying to look for Yukie Nishimura (I couldn't remember her name, typed Japanese pianist on Youtube search and this came out), I stumbled onto Yiruma 이루마, a popular Korean pianist and composer. Here's some of my favourites!

 

River Flows In You

If a video has 6.4 million Youtube views and counting, it got to be good.

Kiss in the Rain

I like this piece just as much. For being so delicate and that gentle tug on the heartstrings.

If I ever play the piano so well, I wonder if I will look so absorbed.

If you skip clicking on the previous videos, this video below, ladies, you must watch. It's gonna take your breath away.

Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence
 by 坂本龍一 Ryuichi Sakamoto

Piano with cello accompaniment. They did it in 1996, way before the piano guys. Like what the comments say, this is the kind of music that touch your soul.

I think to kickstart this pianist dream of mine, I can go buy a Ipad mini, no wait, make it a Ipad so I can see better, get a piano and put on those piano Youtube tutorials that teach how to play these songs. That will be my music score on the piano. And I must select those tutorials that say XXX music piano tutorial - SLOW version. Haha.

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

LOTUS CHARMS

While learning Buddhism, I develop this love for lotuses.

Not the actual flower though. I like tulips and sunflowers more.

It's the significance of it that captures my heart.

“蓮花表示由煩惱而至清淨，因為它生長於污泥，綻開於水面，有出污泥而不染的深一層涵義。”

Yesterday while doing a pet project of mine, I was surfing and stumbled onto this Esty site selling, of all things, lotus charms! On necklaces, bracelets and so forth!

And they are so pretty!

My favourite style is the delicate lotus outline charms.

24 karat gold over bronze lotus pendant on gold chain from jersey608jewelry.etsy.com

 Mother daughter lotus flower pendant necklaces in sterling silver from jersey608jewelry.etsy.com

 What a mad adorable set!

 Lotus charm earrings on sterling silver from jersey608jewelry.etsy.com

No bigger than 1 dime! 

 Lotus charm bracelets in nickle-free materials from Etsy

 

I like how delicate-looking this bracelet is and it's double chained! Reminds me of Perlini's Silver bracelets that I tend to covet as a teen and they always break on me.  

Or wear it as a tiny charm bracelet! Real sweet from Etsy!

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

What if...

The other day over Mother-in-Law's Day steamboat lunch, my brother-in-law was asking me, "So how's things at TFL?"

I paused for a moment, thinking of how to answer.

I have been slowing down, compared to the usual weekly launches. Shuttling between home, suppliers & Vivo is also real tiring. When you go on public transport. Thank Buddha for the Husband who is more than happy to drive my stocks & I around.

The question on my mind the past 2 months is: How do you choose, when you have 2 passions?

2 passions that are not quite complementary.

2 passions that take up just as much time in a day as the other.

2 passions that seem to be telling you, "It's either me or him."

2 passions that when I'm indulging in one, I'm thinking about the other and i never to be able to focus and still my thoughts.

I love fashion. I like the different styles that we women get to play day in day out. Never mind if I'm always wearing pants (hahah, even my supplier's salesgirl notices). Even if I don't get to play Barbie on myself, I like seeing how fashion can make us women go crazy and delirious all at the same time.

I had wanted to be in fashion retail since I was a teenager. And this online phenomena is a God-sent to all of us. Without it, there would be no online stores. No affordable fashion every week. No seeing how others conjure up a myriad of stylish outfits given the limited budget we all have. No booming of online personalities who find advertising for online stores a viable source of income. This whole craze is just so Uniquely Singapore. And it's so god damn fun. 

I don't mind the late nights. I don't mind the long hours. I'm most happy when my customers are happy. And even the 2 hour shoot that I have every week with my models is a happy pill on my down days. Chattering about nothing in particular and everything that I can think of. I just like. 

Without TFL, I would have never be so internet-savvy. Customising my own blogshop, doing up pictures/montages, setting up a Facebook page and knowing what should go on it, moving on to a dotcom and the eventual setting up of this blog which I barely have the time to update, I know, but hey, knowing that it's here makes me happy. I don't have pretty OTDs pics to put up on this blog, I don't have exciting places to share with my readers, I don't do write ups on the latest fad in Singapore, so I guess if you are still reading this blog, you and I must have been the best of the best friends in our past lives. Lol.

You know, happiness is never quite determined by a single thing when you are of a certain age.

And the definition of happiness changes over time. 

I have a strong love for the Dharma. Learning it over the years cleared up so much of my past unhappiness, made me a stronger person, gave me hope when all else seemed to crash and most importantly, set me a goal that defines everything else in my life. Even the Husband said I'm a less grouchy person, compared to the early days when he first knows me. (At that time, he never say I grouchy leh.)

And since 2008, I had wanted to do more. To contribute to the propagation of Dharma, to help others to understand it if they are seeking an answer, to let people know that all can be well, that really Life is can be very enriching when you have a direction. 

I subscribe to the notion that everyone needs a religion, a spiritual guidance. Yes, if you ask me, of course, I would say being a Buddhist is the best because the teachings of Buddha is omnipresent and really answer every single thing in the Universe completely. His wisdom was far beyond a normal person's understanding 2600 years ago and remained so even today.

But no, I'm not the kind who go about bashing up other religions. Because 信好過不信.  And to be honest, no decent religion teaches you to do bad.

Come along TFL, and this little thought of mine got pushed back. 

This year, just as my geomancer predicted, was a year of many changes. Over CNY, I suddenly had this thought of slowing down and focusing on other things in my life. When we are so caught up with daily grind of running a blogshop, sometimes important things get chucked aside and by the time I remember, I can't helped but ask myself, "What if?"

So I took the plunge 2 months back and now I'm getting more involved in translating Dharma articles. 

Not easy, but I am so happy. So happy that I wish I can do it day in day out. I don't mind plonking myself in front of the laptop to translate the hundreds and thousands of articles to English. Years of training from handling TFL emails. I find my mind and heart expanding, as I do the translation and in awe as all these new knowledge flows into my mind, reminding me what an honour it is to be able to help in this little way, to be able to share such profound knowledge with people from all over the world, who had no way to understand this till now, in a language that they spoke. I am deeply humbled and grateful. Grateful too that I'm born in Singapore and that made me effectively bilingual by no choice of mine. Haha.

If my heart has wings, it would be fluttering up and down and doing a little skippy kind of dance. Just to show you how happy I am, even though most people would find it geeky.

The other day, when the Husband accompanied me to the shoot (a nicer way of saying that he was the driver), he saw me fiddling with the camera, ironing the clothes, putting outfits together to 'Barbie' my model and then stuffing the trolley when the shoot ended. He asked me why I seemed so happy doing all that 'rough work'. I told him I did not know how to tell me. It just feel right and I feel I'm in place. Not there, or there, but just here. Right here.

And it's the same feeling when I spent countless hours and long nights to do up the translation proper, so that no one would misunderstood the Dharma due to silly mistakes of mine. I just feel in place. You know, that feeling you get when the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle are put together. Something like that. It just clicked.

When I told the Husband about the internal mechanisms of my passions, he mused, "Well, I guess you just will never be the normal kind of 9-6 wife, or the chasing-after-kids wife. But remember, it's okay, I will always support you, as long as you are happy doing what you do."

Awesome husband. 

But there are bills that still need to be paid.

And like what my geomancer says, I'm always over-ambitious. So yes, one baby step at a time.

Do you have something that you really like to do, but never found the courage and time to?

I pray for you, that this year would be a year of good & positive changes for you too.

We only have one life. Let's feel right about it.

Metta,

欣雨 Xinyu

十二新作

初听这首歌时，心想中国风的歌还会卖吗？虽然曲风并没带给我新鲜感，但歌词的细腻、动人，令我饶梁三日。

 《十二新作》里的另类中国风歌曲，开创「宮廷嘻哈風」！一‘听’钟情！超喜欢歌曲的题材、MV和那可爱的‘公公舞’！怪不得它的Youtube收看率是目前《十二新作》所有MV的榜首！

 

爱爱爱！！！

真的非常赞叹周杰倫的创意和才华！

周杰倫万岁！！

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

MY HAPPY FOOD

The Husband often says I still behave like a kid.  Because I have different Happy Food for different occasions.

If McDonald can do it, so can I. I'm a huge fan of their 4pc Nuggets + Cup Corn + Small Coke Happy Meal.

Food is one of the most awesome wonders of the world. Just seeing them neatly displayed on a supermarket shelf or tucked inside the freezing chillers makes my day.

My favourite flavour is Choc Choc Chip (imagine chocolate chips in chocolate ice-cream...oh man..) but I can't seem to find it on the shelves nowadays. =(

Ben & Jerry's rocks! My favourite is Cherry Garcia. Used to overdose on them during my flying days when there were lots of leftovers tubs that passengers didn't want.

Doritos Nachos taste best in this flavour. Once, the Husband bought Grilled Chicken flavour and it was &#@^%. 

 开心果!! My next favourite is Macadamias! 只溶在口里，不溶在手里!

Life is nothing without you. Love it when Christmas is nearing and all the Coke cans would be decked with Christmas decor on them.

My favourite 养颜 dessert from Din Tai Fung! Nowhere else I know has the same fine quality like theirs!

Please ignore my tired-looking hand.

芝麻包 from Din Tai Fung! Totally totally yummilicious! 

Did you know sesame helps keep our hair black? 

I love that now Din Tai Fung sells their baos individually.

We used to order one basket of it and 3 are too much for 2 of us to finish.

Best thing is the price per bao is the same, be it you order one bao or three baos.

So fluffy that I'm going to die.

Mum-in-law's homecooked lunch. All my favourite dishes.

I love my Mum-in-law! She's the best!

Really really late night at T3. I love their range of old-school biscuits.

Me having the Chocolate with Banana Hot Crepe, sans the cream.

From my favourite Mazazu Crepe stall at B1 of Liang Court.

Crepes are freshly made and real bananas are sliced when an order is placed.

I can have it everyday!

 

 The legendary Ban Mian at City Plaza.

鱼片幼面，加蛋加面加马尼菜!
Once in a while, they would run out of fish.
I once made the mistake of ordering fish maw and boy, it was terrible!
The next time they were out of fish, I stuck to the usual, just sans the sliced fish.
There's still minced pork anyway!

Best consumed after 2pm when the lunchtime crowd disperses.

The popiah is heavenly too!

I buy a tub of their home-made chilli for my in-laws.

It's currently their No. 1 condiment for all meals at home.

 Not exactly a fan of Ajisen Ramen, but there's something about their Vegetable Ramen that I like.

All veggies and upsized!

It's really hard to find something like this at other ramen stores.

 After Spizza's Caesar salad, I now ranked Pastamania's Caesar Salad as my 2nd favourite!

S$6.50 for the salad and S$2.50 for the Minestrone soup, make great supper at their 24hr outlet at Terminal 3.

Maybe next time I would request for their chicken to be microwaved, so that it's not so cold. Brrr.

Once, I had a late lunch at Fish&Co at Terminal 2 and I was pretty dismayed by their Caesar salad, which has miserable floppy leaves and hard chicken cubes with a strong frozen taste to it.

How difficult is it to make a good Caesar salad? Not that difficult, right?

While paying the bill, I told the manager that they should check out Spizza's Caesar salad and to my surprise, they took my feedback rather seriously, asking me which areas of the salad I didn't like and telling me they would feedback to their culinary team.

Hope to have a better salad at Fish & Co next time!

Cereal in hot organic soyabean milk!

At Papa Rich, Malaysia.

That wholesome taste, 毕生难忘.

If only they have it in Singapore.

 Palm-sized curry puffs at S$0.50 each.

Spicy, tasty and filling. From a Malay stall at a Woodlands coffeeshop.

And because the turnover is high, it's always freshly made when we go buy ours at late night.

Custard Lava buns and Custard with Salted Yolk cake from Man Fu Yuan at Hotel Intercontinental.

We like to buy them from the push cart at the hotel side door to Bugis Junction and the staff would steam it for us so that we can have it piping hot while enjoying the beautiful piano music at the Lobby Lounge.

 Bak Kwa from Lim Chee Guan at Ion.

3 yummy slices!

 Amara Hotel Cafe has one of the most awesome fruit platters ever!

I can devour it all by myself!
Cut fruits rock!

 After parcel posting at Changi Airport PO.

Starbucks Molten Chocolate Cake at S$6.50.

The staff would warm it up and the outer layer would have a slight crust while the chocolate lava in it would blow away all logic of my mind.

Couldn't get my hands on it during the X'mas season. Guess they have to make way for the logs.

But it's back & I'm so thrilled!

Best chocolate wafer sticks EVER.

My newfound choice for 猫 山王 Durian mooncakes.

818 Durian & Pastries.

Only available before the Mid-autumn festival.

I was lucky that my mum pulled strings to get me the only two boxes of precious gems on the eve of Mid-autumn festival.

There wasn't even an extra box available.

It's that popular.

 Steamboat at Golden Mile.

It was nostalgic for me to revisit this place after 15 years.

Had it since I was a kid.

Not my favourite choice of steamboat place, but Dad was there.

That was all that matters.

We all know food comes in all sizes and shapes but this really takes the cake.

So cuteeeeee!!

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu