EARTH HOUR SINGAPORE 28th MAR 2009

Earth Hour 2009 - Before Lights Off


Earth Hours 2009 - After Lights Off

The above Singapore skyscape was taken from Marina Barrage 28th March 2009, before 8:30pm - 9:30pm (Earth Hour). See how the world largest ferris wheel (Singapore Flyers) disappear before your very eye and feel the moment of human beings fight against Global Warming. I hope this action around the world will bring more environmental awareness to more people, as I was shock that there were a lot of people out there who do not know what we are waiting for. Some even thought that there were fireworks going on!! It is a shame to live on this beautiful Earth, and we do not know what happened to the Earth and how to take care of it. Instead we have been making it fall sick...
I hope not only Earth Hour will make one think of conserve energy for that hour, but I hope this will be in the heart & mind of each & every one of us around the world that we need to conserve energy every moment and do more we can to fight against global warming... start today and provide a better tomorrow for our next generation. Cheers~

Steal a glance of our wedding photo shoot

We had our wedding photo shoot splited into 2 days because of the rain on 26th Feb... so re-schedule the outdoor shooting today... Good weather and meet a lots of nice people. Thanks to Linda (MA) who makes me look so nice with the bright BIG eyes & the handsome young chap photographer, Henry who try to make every shot perfect.. cant wait to see the result ;)

Dian Xiao Er @ Vivo City

This was my second time to "Dian Xiao Er". The first time was 1 or 2 yr back at Marina. Though that time has a very unpleasant experience, so that was my reason why I have not been patronizing this chinese restaurant. Now it has open up more outlets, the latest is at Jurong Point. Last night, Kok Loong (my hubby) and I passby Vivo outlet and decided to try it again. We ordered a Winter Melon soup - I find it taste salty, but Kok Loong find it tasty sweet. Mmm ... maybe if having it with rice will be just nice. Then came the seafood XO fried rice, for almost the same price you paid for a plate in Asian Kitchen or Fei Cui, this fried rice has more seafood ingredient. But I still prefer Asian Kitchen & Fei Cui as it taste more fragrant. Finally the "Tang Gui" Duck is served. First bit, my goodness, the tang gui was damn too strong, sauce was too sweet... duck meat was less than tender... not as much tasty as I expected a yr or so back. Though the skin was still cprisy. But now I find the best is City Hall, Asian Kitchen Herbal Duck, even the crispy duck itself is nice enough and a small size plate is already very big portion. Very tender and nice. Overall the dinner at Dian Xiao Er was So So...but at Vivo we had a nice view of Sentosa. Thus, conisder paying S$38, still okay ba...

Making of my Masquerade Party Mask

This was a Masquerade Party Mask that I DIY for my D&D on 16th January 09. It was hard to find a right & nice mask in Singapore. A lot of off shelf masks are either too big or too small or Mmmm does nt fit our Asian face shape. Thus, I decide to try make one myself... So this first day of Yr 2009, I start my morning working on the mask. Phew, never did I know that it was not as easy... a lot of details to work on especially to find the right shape and measurment for my face, and by the time the template is ready, it was time for lunch. Really taking it slowly...Couldn't be enjoying my lunch much, as my whole mind is on the unfinished mask, and my whole head is filled with idea of the mask design, which I can't wait to get my hands on it asap.

Finally, when I set my hands on it I couldn't sop till evening... and with my back aching... I'm proud to present my mask to my hubby! Haha and he said that it was "Not Bad". Anyway, when I put it on, he find it even more interesting. He said I look like Wolverine (X-man). Mmm... I wonder why...:P But I dun care because all my hardship has gone into it on the first day of 2009! So I'm going to wear it during my D&D...

The making:-

1) Decide on the mask shape

2) Use a construction paper to measure and draft out the mask shape

3) Using the construction paper template, mark out the mask shape and cut out 2 pcs of it on a foam material (bought from Art Friends)

4) Cut out lace, and using a glue gun, fit it on the cut out foam material, the 2nd pc is used to cover up the inside of the mask

5) Glue on side laces

6) Cut "+" on two side of the mask (Near upper side of yr ears)

7) Insert ribbon so that it can be use for tying the mask onto your face

8) Put on feathers at both ends to cover the "+" make for the ribbons, cover up feather ends with lace

9) Add on decoration to make your masquerade party mask more funky and blink blink ^^

p/s: Be CAREFUL with the glue guns... it's HOT, I got tingly on fingers when using it to glue the laces & feathers

Try out!

Batam Trip 2D1N - KTM Resort - Dinner & Supper

It was 6pm when all of us came out from the SPA Villa. We intend to have afternoon tea but in the end our stomach was fumbling with so much hunger that we decide to satisfy is with our seafood dinner. Yummy! We ordered 4 crabs (2 black pepper/ 2 chili), 4 steam flower crabs, 1 Hong Kong steam style fish, 1 fried sotong & 1 vegetable (Xiaobai). It cost less than S$100 bucks! I think it may not be the cheapest as fresher seafood can still be found in Malaysia, Johor. However, the chef was really not bad to bring us to a different fantasy of tasting. Yum Yum… drooling?!? Hahaha

The day has not ended with the wonderful seafood feast. After a bath Kok Loong & I headed to my family’s cottage. We play card games and drinks. We have very much fun! Can believe it we finished the whole 1litre of Chivas! (p/s: my sister and I always try to make way thru for ourselves haha ;-D). Later at 9pm we ordered our supper at the restaurant again. The staff was nice enough to send the orders (fried sotong, garlic fried chicken & fried seafood beehoon) to our cottage (p/s: there is NO LAN phone available in the cottage), we even request for some ice which they give us a whole tub of it! Hee… Now you see how much my family can eat…HHAHHA

Batam Trip 2D1N - KTM Resort - The SPA

3.30pm the time was like.. finally here (I think we were pretty bored le). So it was SPA time! We headed to the SPA Villa & were greeted by the friendly staff there. We were being arranged for a 2 by 2 combination SPA villa. Of cos I’m with my darling. The SPA villa was so different from the cottage we stayed in, much cleaner and wooden floor was polished. There were flowers displayed as well. Restroom was so much better and well renovated then the cottages. If our cottages could be maintain as refined as the SPA villa it will be the BEST price for the BEST Spa & resort stay.

We changed into the Batik tube dress and short provided. Then the staffs soak our feet into a wooden bowl of warm water, rubbed them with sea salt & clean them. And we were then directed to the Jacuzzi filled with bubbles! Wow! I love… (p/s: I know my mum loves it too, as her comment on the SPA was the BEST she ever been). We then took a light shower and change into bathrobe and the full body massage began… it was so comfortable that I nearly fell asleep! Haha… Ginger green tea was served after the massage. It all ended so pleasantly with the sun setting … how peaceful and romantic

Batam Trip 2D1N - KTM Resort - The afternoon

No beach to play and do sun tanning, we resort to having coconut under the big umbrella shade. After which we get so bore that we decided to have an early lunch, around 11.30am at the resort. We ordered a Tom Yam Soup, Sambal Kangong, Fried chicken wings, Claypot Touhu & Fried seafood omelet. The lunch cost Rp 217800 only for 6 of us. As the resort has really not many facilities … after lunch we had a game of billard.

For more details you may like to visit their website
http://www.ktmresort.com/
http://batamspavilla.com/packages.html

Batam Trip 2D1N - KTM Resort - Family Cottage

For a less than 5mintues walk, I will reach the family cottage which my family stayed. It looks rather more like a villa or a place that could stay. It was furnished with kettle, fridge, stove, cutlery and a living area with 2 bedrooms. The house keeper may not have done a good job because one of the restroom has no shampoo….

Batam Trip 2D1N - KTM Resort - Beachfront Cottage

The resort itself was standing on a rather big area. Sad to say not much facilities was put up for it generally “big” size. Our check in was pretty fast. As our package included a 90mins SPA and a day city tour, the resort has already fixed our SPA to be at 3.30PM. We are glad with the timing thus we checked into our rooms first. Kok Loong and my room was the beachfront cottage with a petite balcony to share. We were rather discontented with it because there were no kettle and fridge provided, and the towels were even damp! Felt like it was not being sent for washing yet! Restroom vitalization was no good at all.

Batam Trip 2D1N - The Journey There

This is not my first trip to Batam, however, was the first time to go with my whole family. It was a 2D1N package SPA trip with KTM Resort, SPA Villa in Batam. We have to collect tickets before 8.10am at Harbor Front Ferry Terminal. Thus, we woke up early on Sat, 1st Nov, 2008. Our ferry is at 9.20am, and we have to check in half an hr earlier. We hade some extra time so we went for our Mac sausage and egg breakfast at Mac. Carrying a full stomach we happily board the Ocean Rider…. and about an hour journey on sea we reached Sekupang International Ferry Terminal. Batam time is an hour before Singapore time. Not too much of a harsh to clear the custom. However after which we had to look out for KTM Resort Mini Bus to take us to the resort. It comes on a first come first serve basic.

Batik Marie

Batik Marie

250g butter(1 cube)
1 cup sugar (if don’t like to have it too sweet personally I think half cup is enough)
1 can evaporated milk
4 eggs(beaten)
1/2 cup milo powder
1/2 cup cocoa powder (Van Houten)
400g Marie biscuits (1 packet) (break in quarters)
1 tbsp vanilla essence

1. melt the butter over heat.
2. pour in sugar. stir.
3. pour in evaporated milk + eggs. keep stirring so tt the eggs dun get cooked in the mixture.
4. pour in the cocoa powder + milo powder slowly n stir till the mixture thickens.
5. after mixture thickens, pour the vanilla essence. it'll give a sweet aroma to the mixture!
6. once mixture thickens, roughly abt 15-20mins, can off the heat and pour in the biscuits.
7. mix it well then get ready a normal cntr, put the biscuit mixture in and use a flat metal to press the whole mixture down(tt creates the batik design!).
8. voila! let it cool before storing it in the fridge.

Your batik marie can be served the next day!before cutting it, make sure u defrost it so tt cutting wud be easier!batik marie can last for quite long, u can eat the whole mth!

Cheese Cake!!

Ingredients Set A

1. 24pcs Marie biscuits (MUST be Marie biscuits (马利饼) hor! – Round biscuits in Red color packaging)
2. 125g butter (Buttercup brand – Golden color packaging)

Ingredients Set B
1. 1 tin of pineapple rings. Cut up. (Pleasant brand – Red color packaging)
2. 4 tbsp pineapple water
3. 1 can Nestle Cream
4. Half packet (1 packet = 250g) Philadephia chesse (Silver packaging)
5. 5 - 7.5g Gelatin
6. 2 and a half tbsp sugar

Instructions for Ingredient set A:
1. Rub butter into finely crushed Marie biscuits.
2. Make the cake base by pressing the mixed biscuits into a big plastic-disposable container (about L: 27cm x B: 15 -17 cm or round container diameter: abt 24cm).
3. Refrigerate for 1 hour (at least).

Instructions for Ingredient set B:
1. Put ingredients set B No. 2, 5 & 6 to melt (keep stirring) then mixed in No. 1,3 & 4 and bring to a boil. Not too long or the mixture will be oily.
2. Let the mixture cool for about half hour and then spread evenly onto the cake base.
3. Refrigerate to firmness. (IT'S V IMPORTANT for the ULTIMATE PRESENTATION OF CAKE!)

-THE END-

P.S All ingredients stated above can be brought from NTUC. Follow the
brand(s) above closely. Any other brands used, will change the overall
taste of the chessecake. If you face any problems, feel free to contact
me ya? AND YES, after you have done it, tell me about it ok?

Below is a photo of the above stated ingredient… put creativity in works, try with some other fruit … my friends & I have tired blueberry… taste super nice too… see the 2nd photo….

We will be BACK!!! - Sipadan

So much dive till we get a few candid shots here during the drift dive & also group photo with our diving gang! =D This was a fantastic 4D3N with Kapalai Dive Resort in Sipadan & Mabul Island.
The staff and dive master are friendly and helpful. Videography is available too. Our group had one taken at RM290/CD (consist of 2 dives). The experience was such a terrific & memorable one that we sure will return to this amazing island!

Anemone Crab!

These were the two photos that I personally love a lot! =D The tiny crab found among the sea anemone. We were facing a bit of a current when we took the photo. The tiny one doesn’t seem to be affected by us. Kok Loong was keeping his ground by holding one hand to a rock and the other with his camera over her and took a few quick shots. The photo turns out to be really great!

Scorpion Fish

Frogfish is one of the marine life that Kok Loong hope to discover, however, was kind of a disappointed that we did not manage to find. However, found this Scorpion fish. Small size as it might be, I think it has a look of a dinosaur. A tiny one though… couldn't agree more with me? Haha…

The tiny one ~ Nudibranch

Besides these species, we see a number of nudibranch. Nudibranch is a member of one suborder of soft-bodied, shell less marine which are noted for their often extraordinary colors and striking forms. It was amazing sight to see them slugging on the rocks or sandy surface. In the photo are some just some species we found.