My first Grill salmon

One weekday afternoon when I am not at home, my mum went to Bedok Interchange and buy a big piece of salmon that cost around $6.80.

It was my first attempt to grill a salmon, and I realise something, "salmon got many fats"!! is it true?

The recipe is from a iphone application website... the salmon don't turn out very fantastic but still taste good :) I had enhance the recipe a little bit by

adding some spring onion and ginger.. hmm very Chinna right. hehe.

Slice ginger and spring onion are too dry after grilling..

Lasalle school

One Friday evening after a long day work and a short work out at the gym, I meet my friend Byron for some evening photo taking, Byron suggested Lasalle (initially he thought the building is Nafa) so we head there after he pick me up at Suntec... I learn alot of photo taking theory from him.. he also lent me a Lonely planet photography book for some reference.. Here are some photos I took using G10.. Enjoy :)

There are more photos.. click link.......

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=159032&id=706823754&l=37aed89679

Sweet Soy Chicken Drumstick

This my 2nd attempt to grill this chicken drumstick, is quite a successful dish, because I still thinking of when to cook it again and it is easy to prepare too, it took only 15mins to marinate the drumsticks and 45mins to grill ..

The recipe is taken from Women weekly magazine.

• 10 Frozen chicken drumsticks, (I mix with some chicken breast meat)
• Finely grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 cloves garlic, chop
• 2 tsps sesame oil
• garlic, slice (I add some sliced garlic myself)

1. Preheat oven at 180c, meanwhile, cut 3 slits across each chicken drumstick with a sharp knife.

2. In a bowl, combine chicken drumsticks with remaining ingredients. Toss to coat well. Allow chicken to marinate for 15mins.

3. Place chicken on a wire rack over a baking tray. Bake for 45 to 50mins or till chicken is cooked.

4. Serve.

Enjoy :)

Sunday Lunch - Macaroni soup

My Share

Mum's share

Is a hot Sunday today, but it never stop me from cooking this, but after eating I went for a cold shower and prepare to go Orchard today for some windows shopping and dinner with Aki. This Macaroni soup is very very easy to cook, I use some dried cuttlefish and make the soup base and an beaten egg, fishballs and picnic ham for the ingredients. 

You have to precook the Macaroni and leave it aside then follow by the soup base. I think I had add too much water for this therefore the soup taste abit diluted, nevertheless it is nice :)

My dream Kitchen

Hey too high, I am not tall enough!

Dinner is ready :)

I always envy people who have big kitchen, my biggest dream is to have a wonderful dream kitchen at home, I doesn't mind to compromise my bedroom or living room.

I roughly give you a idea of my dream kitchen, I like to have the stove and a chopping space in the centre of the kitchen, so I will cook and prepare the food there. The fridge and basin will be at the side, there is also a window decorate with nice lace curtain with some small plants around the window. WOW great! 

And there was one day I went to Ikea at Tampines for some photos taking session with my friends, and they realized that I keep taking photos of kitchen :) Here are some pictures of the Ikea Kitchen.

Carrot Salad by Cream Puffs

Carrot Salad with Preserved Lemon Juice, Parsley and Thyme

The original recipe is very simple. It uses sea salt, lemon juice, parsley and olive oil to dress the carrots. I switched it up a bit by using the juice of preserved lemons, as well as white wine vinegar and thyme. Whatever you use to dress the salad, it’s so refreshing.

Ingredients

• 4 large carrots, julienned (You can also shred them.)
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt (If you use preserved lemons, the juice will be salty so you don’t need a lot of salt.)the juice of one preserved lemon (How much juice you get will depend upon the size of the lemon. Alternatively, you can just use regular lemon juice, however, be sure to increase the amount of sea salt.)
• 1 to 3 tbsp., white wine vinegar (Depending on how acidic you want the salad, you can adjust the amount of vinegar accordingly.)
• 2 tbsp. chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp. minced thyme
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  

1. Place the julienned carrots in a bowl and add the sea salt and the preserved lemon juice. Toss the carrots and let them sit for about 30 minutes.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and toss. Let the salad sit at room temperature for several hours. Serve the carrots at room temperature or refrigerate them overnight. Refrigerating them results in a truly crispy and tasty salad.
   Enjoy!

Cereal Raisin Crunch

This is a typical Chinese New Year Snack, is simple to make and is nice and crunchy.. Traditionally cereal are eat together with milk and also you can add some cut fruits, and now there is a alternative way to eat it, all you need is...

One Big Bowl
500 gm Cereal
80gm Raisins

80gm cranberries (optional)
4 tbsp Honey

15gm Unsalted Butter

Cake paper cases
Toaster

Mix the Honey and Butter together, add in cereal and raisins, once every thing is mix well together, place the mix cereal into the paper case and bring to toast for 4mins.

Finished work :)

Not a normal cake - try it!

Is really a hard time to find a good Millie crepe cake.. I had tried it before at a cafe near Ueno park in Japan Tokyo and I really love it! It totally goes well with a nice cup of coffee :)  So once back home I try to find recipes and check if there's anyone selling Millie crepe in town and happen that I came across this website, LadyM... www.ladymconfections.com  Their Signature cake is the Millie crepe and I thought it will be really nice if I have a chance to go New York and taste it on my own, I hope this is what I am looking for. But unfortunately I still can't find a good one in town...

Lady M Millie Crepe

Japan Millie Crepe :)

Taiwanese Designer - Johan Ku

I was reading "She Breathes" blog page and come across this article, and currently my mum is very into knitting and this art work really impress me, I wonder how they put this beautiful knit wear together, is not easy as I can see, because all wood fabric is make up of super big yarn.. and I think is kinda heavy dress too.. He is a Taiwanese Designer and "Emotional Sculpture" is the name of the Collection.

Dream Cafe

This cafe is in Thailand Bangkok, they sell ice cream and also serve coffee and tea... they have a few simple and nice art piece in the cafe and also nicely painted..

How to Make a Fashion Design Portfolio

Step 1 : Get something to hold and organize the work. This can be a variety if things. If you are young and starting out, a binder with page inserts works well. It may be best to spend the money on a nice large portfolio or presentation folder from a craft store or office supply store.

Step 2 : Collect samples of your best work, and begin to organize or group them together by collection. If you have multiple collections to display, you may include a few samples of inspiration for the design. This may be a painting of a flower, a song or the texture of a rusted piece of metal.

Step 3 : Include your sketches. These should be large, colored final sketches of the design. This shows your original intentions with the design. If there is room, you may even include small preliminary sketches that show the development of your design.

Step 4 : Include fabric swatches. These are small pieces of fabric that show what you would make the designs out of, or what you intend to make the designs out of. They may be small squares, but have enough of the fabric to show the texture or pattern well. Some fabric stores may give free or sell swatches, or you may have to buy a small amount of fabric.

Step 5 : Include finished photos of the fashion design in your portfolio if you have some. Anything that you actually make should be photographed while someone is wearing it. The photo should also be in color and large enough to show detail.

Step 6 : Put the work in a logical order. Think about the emotions or feelings that each photo or design evokes when you look at it. Consider each one and whether they flow in the order of a sort of story.

Step 7 : Go digital. With the technology of today, many places prefer a digital copy burnt to disc. If you apply to colleges or jobs far away, the only source of contact may be through email and over phone. Scan all images and sketches, and creatively place them in order to be viewed easily. This can be very simple or get very complicated.

A few of my design

Usually I will spend my weekend at home, cook, draw, sew and also go for a run, these are some of my design that I draw during one of these weekend, the medium I used is Copic markers. 

I am still organising my collection, once done I will post them in my blog. 

Long white dress

I will make the top with velvet green...

I like this dress very much, I will make this dress once I am skillful enough...

Nectarie at Clarke Quay

Was with my friends at this cafe during a Friday night, the concept of this cafe is cosy with a classy look, the tables and the high stools looks like the shape of Panadols.... I like this place very much and the pastry look nicely display in the fridge. There are 4 of us and we ordered 3 pieces of cakes and our individual drinks, I had Green apple juice.. I had took a few pics of the cakes we ordered.

Pistachios with white chocolate

Green Tea with Passion

Japan Sakura

This Trip was a well plan trip, in terms of the blooming Sakura season in late March... I got to see the full bloom in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.. Sakura only bloom once a year for only a week before it falls in Japan, so, I felt that I am quite lucky to see them. Here are some pictures taken by me. Enjoy!

Temple near Osaka Castle

Close shot

Kyoto Sakura park

Kyoto Canal

This is a University in Kyoto

A pebble art work in Tokyo, is so adorable

I think this is a Museum, in Tokyo

These are the nicest pictures among all, I spent total of 9 days in Japan and I plan to go there again, not Sakura season now, my next trip to Japan is to get some design inspirations. :)

In Japan there are many nice hand craft work and nice fashion sense too, I hope I will bring some nice ideas back...