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

Presents for a blogshop owner

I spent a lot of time in front of my laptop. Like, really, a lot of time.

My family must have noticed too because recently, I got a lot of unexpected gifts from them. No, not diamonds or Chanels, haha! But affordable little gifts that make working for TFL much easier!

A foldable bed tray table from Ikea! The Husband bought it at S$9.90 in early May! What a good deal! It's not some filmsy plastic but of sturdy high-impact polystyrene plastic! I only saw it in hot pink though. I like the amount of space under the table top. It's wide & tall enough for me to sit cross-legged underneath or change to stretching my legs straight, without having to push away the tray table to do that. The table is very stable during usage. Its legs don't collapse under the weight of my 2kg laptop and my hands, even when I used it for 5-7 hours straight.

The Husband has taken it upon himself to stock up my snack pantry when I get hungry in the middle of the night, replying emails or doing up launches or watching Kang Xi Lai Le. I didn't like the Lays chips he bought because as much as I like chips, I don't like them too salty. Meiji biscuits packs are very yummy when paired with Laughing Cow cheese! And of course, with Coke! Heavenly!

So the other night, I randomly grab this packet of chips because there's none left. It was of a ailen brand that I had never heard before. Was telling myself if it did not taste nice, I would get the Husband to finish up because I don't like throwing away food. But SURPRISE SURPRISE!! This is the most delicious packet chips I had ever had!!! It's not as salty as most chips and tastes very real (not sure if you know what I mean)!

It's a bonus that the chips are free from cholesterol, gluten & trans fat! I didn't even know that till I was almost done! I thought the chips were made from potato till the next day when I was gushing to the Husband how different & yummi-licious the chips were, the Husband enlightened me that the chips were made from cassava, otherwise known as tapoica! 番薯片! It was written in bold on the packet but I was literally eating blindly! Lol! 

And guess what?! It's manufactured by Tai Sun! I was expecting a US manufacturer because of the taste. My mum-in-law tried looking for it in Malaysia when she was in Johor, because she saw that the chips were made in Malaysia but couldn't find it there. Yes, she likes the chips too! 

I'm never going back to the usual potato chips!

THIS is the most most most most most most most useful present I had ever received as a blogshop owner! My mother had never saw how I work for TFL. 2 Fridays ago, she came to meet me to pass me homemade red bean agar agar. That was her first time seeing me carrying so many bags of parcels & stuff. I was lugging a big China bag of shoes, bags & clothes, all packed, with several other smaller bags. Mum saw me and throughout the 2 hours we met, she kept asking me why I sloughed this way. I presumed she was referring to why I opted for such a laborious job instead of a corporate career. 

Then, last Sunday, when we went back for lunch, my Mum surprised me with this trolley bag she got her friend to buy from Bangkok! I had never seen this selling in Singapore. The bag, yes. There are tons of variations, but not with an ATTACHED trolley! The trolley is really sturdy and stable and because it's attached to the bag, the bag base is of strong metal + plastic and not waxed paper. It is still light enough to be hand-carried if necessary. This also means I don't have to worry about the bag falling off from the trolley and no more torn bags and no more holding on to 10-12kg worth of stuff!! The usual cabin bags don't work for me, because selling bags & shoes mean parcels can be of all sizes & shapes. So bags with slightly flexible shape works best!

Back in SQ days, I had always used cabin bags with attached trolleys. I didn't fancy using a separate trolley, because many times, the bag would fall off when the crew gets on/off the escalators, makes a turn or navigating through the plane's narrow aisles. In short, it's just irritating. I gathered I must have a 不解之緣 with trolley bags because I never thought 4.5 years after hanging up my kebaya, I would still rely on a trolley bag for work! Hahahah!

Such China bags (is there a proper term for them actually?), despite their size & ability to store, break rather easily when they are made from wax paper. Canvas is the best bet if you have heavy stuff to put in. But I can't find canvas China bags in Singapore. I asked my mum if there were plain ones because I'm so not a cartoon prints person. Hope to buy a bigger one with attached trolley too! I'm very adept at pulling trolleys! =D

Metta, 

欣雨 Xinyu

My month of Happiness!

I'm not a born optimist henceforth I'm a natural at pessimism. If not for my religion that gives me a strong holding, I foresee myself pulling my hair all the time. I'm a closet drama queen. But I read from someone's Twitter that if we spend too much time counting our troubles, we would have no time to count our blessings. So, today thou shalt attempt to quantify my happiness!

April is my birthday month and just being in that month alone makes me a happy girl! I declare to the Husband that everyday is my birthday in April, so he has to sing a birthday song to me as and when I want to hear it! Haha! *princess mode kicks in*

Here's my Happiness month summarised!

Happiness is...

Discovering a newly renovated Marks & Spencer store at Wheelock Place, with a huge and spacious Food Hall to boot & my favourite snack in stock! Gosh, makes me miss my London flights! I used to spend hours wandering in M&S stores whenever I'm in London. Almost all their food, including takeaway, are so yummy & well-presented! It's the best thing about UK, okay next best thing after Primark!

Receiving a birthday discount card from TCC (because I'm their member) that offers a whooping 50% discount for my 1st consumption in Apr, and subsequently 30% for 2nd consumption! And discovering their new Teriyaki Salmon pasta is yummilicious!

Realising my 2-year-old dream of dining at Ikoi again, a day after my birthday! Can be so hard to get seat reservation even when I call 2 weeks in advance! But I have learnt a way! If you don't manage to get reservations earlier, call around 8pm on actual day and you might be lucky to get counter seats! Only applicable for 4 or less people tho! The Ikoi chef was nice enough to make salmon in broth (that pot with a flame beneath), using the salmon meant for sashimi upon our request. We had 30 slices of salmon sashimi cooked. It was a one-off thing. The taste was out of the world! Very very yummy! The broth is so delicious and no msg overload for me! I miss Ikoi so much! The soba soup, the sushi, the salad, <3 <3 <3

Seeing very pretty flowers at Orchard Hotel! Hotels always have such beautiful floral arrangements! They look like orchids up close, but their petals are so soft and delicate! I wonder what the name is.

  

Glam-ing up a plain exercise book with a wrapping paper I bought from Prints some 6 years ago but never used! So that I will be more motivated to write on my self-declared positive thinking journal! I still have 5-6 more rolls of that wrapping paper!

Having a new place to store all of TFL's stocks! Like finally!! 

Although the Soon Seng Transport guys were punctual, strong & efficient, I won't be getting them again if I need movers next time. The In-charge blatantly refused to wrap my chrome racks with cling wrap, saying there is no need to. When my Husband insisted, he only wrap the bottom legs with cling wrap. 好敷衍哦！ Now, if cling wrap is cheap and they can wrap my stocks with so much of it, why not my S$500+ chrome racks??

Or maybe, I will just request for that IC not to be one of the movers if I need their service again.

Still, getting a new place for my stocks is pure bliss!!

Visiting at Victor's Kitchen for the first time, and there were plenty of empty seats for the taking! It was 4pm on a weekday afternoon. The place was more run down than I realised. Felt a tad embarrassed because I had a guest with me and was telling him how this place had nice and affordable food as raved by netizens. Gaah, if I had known about the bad flooring condition, Swee Choon would have been more ideal! Thank goodness he loves the porridge there! Well, so do I! It's almost like home-cooked, without those usual msg and saltiness! I like all the dim sum shown above, except the custard lava buns. Sorry I'm no fan of those buns!

Getting a new solid pinewood bed frame from Seahorse at S$109 & my dream mattress! Queen-sized! The original version comes with storage drawers underneath, but I'm no fan of such storage. So while shopping for a new mattress at Seahorse, we casually asked the salesgirl if this bed comes without storage drawers (the showroom version has 6 drawers underneath and retails at S$390+). Imagine our joy when she told us the price! Even cheaper than Ikea's version which is untreated wood by the way!

My in-laws have been using Seahorse mattresses for their room and so does my brother-in-law. Once while the Husband was talking to his brother, I sat on his bed and fell asleep in the midst of their conversation. My first time sleeping on a Seahorse mattress and boy, it was such good sleep! I'm loving my new Seahorse foam mattress! It's so solid hard, which is great for our problematic backs! Took us a while to get used to it and I'm never going back to those spring coil mattresses! At S$399 for ours, it's really affordable and value-for-money!

Buying takeaway 奶黃千層餅 from East Ocean at Ngee Ann City and gobbling them while standing! Because I love them so so so so much! Much prefer them than custard lava buns, which can be too salty for my liking. Think this is healthier too! It's almost like Kueh Tutu, but much tastier! You should try if you have not!

Finding a new way to eat foccacia with cheese, without slicing through the bread! Because I was too lazy on a busy work day. Hahaha!

Watching carnations bloom from buds to full-blooms! How pretty in pink! These were from sister-in-law to Mum-in-law for Mothers' Day. So this is for May! I didn't know carnations can last for more than a week. Then again, Mum-in-law used to run a florist shop. Maybe she has some magic formula to keep these flowers pretty. Must ask her someday!

Finding a pair of pretty shoes that looks good on my big feet, light & uber comfy to shop in! The piggies + the Husband say they are pretty too! It's pretty rare that the Husband notices what's on my feet. Hehe. The flatforms are of a great height, don't cut my feet (I don't have sensitive feet to begin with though) and go with almost everything! Plus, the shoes have really great friction in the soles!

Best of all, I have gotten them in 4 gorgeous colours for TFL customers in the next launch!! Deep red (so sexy!), Peach & Nude! Good things deserve to be shared! =D Can't wait to show you gals when I get the pics tonight!

______________________________________

You know, it's actually harder to stay happy. Being happy for a while is easy. When we get a payrise, when a piece of good news come in, when we get to eat good food, when we go on our dream holiday etc. But staying happy continuously? That needs constant practice. Silly as it sounds. 

It seems easier to be bitching about this, gossiping about that or just plain ranting about things. I don't think I will tell my gal pals about how happy I feel seeing pink carnations bloom or wrapping exercise books with pretty wrapping paper. It's just not common to talk about things like that. Has it become more socially acceptable to be ranting about things/people than revelling in the joys from simple happiness? Or even when we don't talk negatively, most of us don't speak positively or in an upbeat manner either.

When I meet people who jumps at the chance to rant about everything under the sun, it is unnerving. I hope I never forget how to stay happy. I don't want to grow old and grumpy when Life has already given me a lot, really.

Start by saying thank you for all you already have. If you don't know how, read this book "The Magic" by Rhonda Byrne. I strongly recommend this book! It is available at Popular at less than S$20.

May we all never ever forget how easy it can be to stay happy! =DDD

Metta,

欣雨 Xinyu

Your wedding is one of the best days of your life. Because it’s the day you realise I finally have the thing I need to be happy. And then you forget. So then what happens is instead of waking up every morning and shouting Somebody loves me!

You start looking around and thinking, "What do I want now? What’s the next thing I need to be happy?" So, you look and you look and you keep thinking that you found it. But nothing works because that hole in your heart that you’re trying to fill is already filled.

You just forgot. Don’t ever forget. Always remember how much you wanted to be loved and how much you are loved. And I think if you can do that, you will stop looking and realise you already are happy.
~ Lynette, Desperate Housewives