I am spending more time in my office toilet now….

Because of the heightened alert on the swine flu pandemic…

Because of a poster which is pasted on our office toilet’s mirror, which is right in front of us whenever we wash our hands…

And the poster looks like this…

And so, I am spending more time in the toilet now….. washing my hands.

By the way, I saw this advertisement on Tan Tock Seng Hospital’s website-

If you are spotted washing your hands using this technique at the premise, you will stand a chance to win a car!

Do people really need such incentives to up their hygiene standards in times like these???

An unexpected after-dinner programme

I just had a simple dinner with hubby @ the usual coffeeshop across the road. After dinner, we decided to go to NTUC to get some groceries.

Little did I know the 'torture' I would be subjected to on the way to the very nearby NTUC....

First, we passed by one of those Chee-na massage shops. As we walked past it, we could clearly sniff the strong, minty smell of the Chinese medicated oil.

"Shall we go for massage?" Jared suddenly asked as he stopped in his tracks. Before I knew it, we were in the shop. Jared went for a 40min foot reflexology and me, I chose a 30min back massage.

Thank God I quite liked the minty smell of the medicated oil, cos the Chinese massage lady rubbed it all over my back and arms.

And thank God she tested the strength she used on me before she started the massage. After settling on a certain 'strength' used, I was still kind of 'out of breath' and whining a bit. Which made her comment (in her heavily accented Chinese accent) "哎哟，我只用一点点地力气，你都痛到这样呀！" (Translated as "I had only used less than half of my strength and it's still painful for you?")

Well, can you imagine her strong hands rubbing my bones?? I could feel every single bone at my back! How not to feel the pain??!!

Anyway, the massage is not too bad since the masseuse tried to adjust her strength to not inflict so much 'injury'. I guess I was un-stiffened and detoxified for $25!

And then after shopping @ NTUC, we walked passed a clinic. Jared backtracked, peered into the clinic and asked me to go get my flu vaccination. Duh??

What a torturous night!!!

I hate injections!

Must be the swine flu news articles that is making him worried.

Anyway, paid another $28 for this flu vaccination. And it's not the vaccine against swine flu.... (it's not out yet).

I should avoid eating opposite on Mondays with Jared next time! ;p

 

 

My 'new' Blackberry

Introducing my 'new' phone...

Don't you love the color? HOT PINK

And the best part is that I only paid S$16+ to make over my Blackberry. The feeling is as good as buying a new phone. (: Yeah!

Sun is on Facebook!

Yes, SUN HO is on facebook!!!

Technology knows no physical distance... Now we can get a chance to be upclose and personal with her!

So do add her on www.sun-ho.com/facebook!

Healthy Eating & Drinking Habits

A few weeks ago, my hubby emailed this article to me...

Mushrooms and tea cut cancer risk
CHINESE women who eat mushrooms and drink green tea significantly cut their risk of breast cancer and its severity in those who develop it.

Researchers from University of Western Australia looked at the diets of 2,018 women from the southeastern Chinese city of Hangzhou - half of whom had breast cancer - between July 2004 and September 2005.

The researchers noted that the rate of breast cancer cases in China was four to five times lower than that typically found in developed countries.

Eating as little as 10 grams, or less than one button mushroom daily, has a beneficial effect. Women who consumed the most fresh mushrooms are two-thirds less likely to develop breast cancer compared with those who did not eat them. Fresh and dried mushrooms were equally effective.

The fact that the combination of green tea and mushrooms was more effective than just mushrooms alone could partially explain the lower incidence of breast cancer amongst Chinese women. The study was published in the International Journal of Cancer.

-The New Straits Times

Since then, I have been more conscious of including these into my diet.

And here are some other items that I eat almost everyday!

Soya Bean - Positive effects on cholesterol, bone density, menstrual and menopausal symptoms as well as preventing certain cancers.

Evening Primrose Oil - Good for reducing PMS, eczema and other skin disorders (think better complexion), lower cholesterol and blood pressure, strengthen immune system, help reduce obesity etc.

Cranberries - Improve body's circulatory system, treat cystitis (if juice drunk daily), high in Vit C, contributes to healthy heart, reduce urinary tract infections.

Milk - Has ability to prevent osteoporosis (by strengthening the bones), reduce hyper tension, lower the risks of tooth decay and colon cancer.

Yesterday, after washing my Evening Primrose Oil Capsule down with a glass of water, I was thinking which to drink next - Green Tea or Cranberry Juice...

What a lot of things to eat/drink in a day!!! But... any joiners? (:

My new blog URL :)

Dear ALL,

If you haven't noticed by now...

I have just changed my blog URL to...

http://www.jerblinn.com

I bought the unique name (Heehee) on name.com as I thought this name would be easier and more memorable. HAHAHA!

Special thanks to Sandra who led the way, and taught me how to port... in fact she did the entire porting over for me. Yeah!

I can cook.... LAKSA

HAHA! Like real.

I bought this instead.

This takes care of the gravy I need for my Laksa.

Prima Taste's Ready-to-Cook Meal Kit is really good especially for cooking dummies like me. I've cooked Mee Siam with this kit too, and I saw there were other local dishes such as Chicken Curry available too.

This Laksa kit includes...

Laksa Pre-mix... Not sure what's really inside....

Laksa Paste

They even pre-packed Sambal Chilli!

And even a pack of dried Laksa leaves!

Cooking laksa is now almost as easy as cooking maggi mee! (:

So here goes....

First I had to empty the Laksa Premix into a pot of water. And it looked like this...

Hmmm... This premix must be a dried powder form of coconut milk...

Next, stir in the Laksa paste, and now it looked a little better!

Next up... Boil!

Then I dumped in my ingredients (not provided in the box of course!) of fishballs, sliced fishcake, hard-boiled eggs and taupok. Cook some more.

In the meantime, I blanched the thick white noodles in boiling water.

And then guess what?

MY LAKSA IS DONE!!!

Isn't it AMAZING???

Here's my pot of the gravy with the abundance of ingredients... for 2 persons to eat! I believe I will be dumping alot of leftovers later.

I also prepared a simple healthy fruit salad using Fuji apples, seedless grapes, canned peaches as well as yoghurt.

A very good yoghurt brand I found in the supermarket is Alive. Delicious and smooth tasting. And the flavor I chose to use for the salad today is the Apple and Pomelo. Nice!

So presenting today's dinner to you...

 

Jared should have no complains about 'Domestic Bliss'. (((:

 

 

Have you ever Yum Cha?

Yum cha (飲茶) is a term in Cantonese which means "drink tea". It refers to the custom of eating small servings of different foods while sipping Chinese tea.

Jared was on half-day leave on Monday, and we starved ourselves till 3pm to Yumcha.

 

Yumcha is also a Chinese restaurant situated in the heart of Chinatown and they offer hi-tea buffet serving dim sum at $16.80++ per person from 3-6pm on weekdays. 

We took quite awhile to locate it at Trengganu Street. When we finally found it, we realized it's on level 2.

We went up... starving already.

When we reached the restaurant, we were pleasantly surprised at 3 things:

1. The menu

It has 65 items on it! Steamed dim sum, rice flour rolls (HK style), Congee, fried dim sum, speciality dishes, double boiled soup and desserts! You can view the menu on their website (But I think it's not really updated).

2. Their somewhat 'advanced' technology?

The drink list came along with buttons or quick service! Wow, so techy right?? You don't have to try to wave your hand or snap your fingers for a distracted waiter's attention....

3. The way the food was served

The near-extinct, old-fashioned, my favorite... trolley style! Yeah! Dim sum on wheels!

In fact, the waiters kept calling out the dishes and offering to the tables so quickly, Jared and I for the first few minutes of our meal were eating at high speed to make room for more! We had to remind ourselves to slow down and enjoy! HAHAHA!

So here are some of the 18 items we ordered (we didn't even manage to eat a third of the menu!)....

Don't drool....

My favorite, must-have- Chicken claws or feng-jiao. I finished the dish all by myself! *Burp!

Jared, the siew mai fan says this is better than at most places... He finished this without realizing that I haven't tasted it...

I was eating this fried mango shrimp dumpling and wanted to take a picture of the delicious, savory insides. Can you see, can you see? Sweet mango gushing out with fat, juicy prawns... YUMS!

Paper-wrapped chicken. Very very tasty except that the paper was very stuck to the chicken skin. Should try!

I didn't get to eat this fried prawn dumpling... I wonder why.... Jared must think it is very nice. But it looked kinda over-fried.

Beancurd with fishcake. No comments... I was too full to eat this.

Guo tie. I think this was average. It didn't have the soup inside the filling...

I remember my guo-tie eating experience @ Crystal Jade kitchen... At the first bite into the guo tie, you've got to slurp the soup clean, if not it will spill out and be wasted.... Mmmm....

Fried toufu balls. Not bad.

Vegetarian fried spring roll. Quite bad. Too much beansprout and chives.... Even though I love vege but I prefer the normal springroll.

Har gow... with juicy and succulent pieces of prawns inside!

They have the fish, prawn and char siew rice roll. Very silky and soft in texture and just nicely salted. Tasty and healthy! Must try!

Thai style jellyfish. Beware, it has chilli padi, onions and parsley (the only yucks factor for me!).

Lotus and pork ribs double boiled soup. SUPER DELICIOUS! Must-try!

We were wondering if the porridge could match up to Crystal Jade's. After eating it, we concluded it's at a VERY SUPER close 2nd. Smooth and tasty!

Jared and I were arguing about how they achieved this texture... Blend the rice? Keep stirring? Cut the rice? ...

Their mango pudding was the harder version. And there was a layer of coconut milk over it. I thought it was just slightly above average. Nice mangoes though.

 

Lemongrass jelly with fruit cocktail. The jelly was very subtly lemongrass flavored, and it melts in your mouth... Very refreshing!

Jared liked these mini egg tarts... but I couldn't stomach this anymore...

The last dish that I squeezed down my throat... delightfully! The best dish in my opinion- Crispy red bean paste with banana. YUMMY! I could eat plates of this if I had more space in my tummy! MUST MUST TRY!

Of course, I washed all these down with a pot of Pu'er tea. It felt much better!

Finally, it was bill time. We happily paid $39.20 for everything.

We will definitely be back!

Service

Ambience

Food