Picture of the day

Playing around with Instagram app on my iPhone. I am a late bloomer with this app.

I had shopped until I dropped...

It is only May and I had exceeded my shopping limit of this year. Yeah yeah... same old me. But you should understand if you were in New York.

I had been to the States three times, in three different seasons over the past 4 years. Autumn, winter and spring. I guess the next time would be summer. But that might never happen. I have enough of summer and humidity in Singapore and I want to experience different weather when travelling to another country.

Anyway, this March and April saw me visiting Boston, Washington DC and New York. And yes, you read it right, New York for a second time. But I was in the city alone this time, trying to visit those touristy spots that I had missed last time and to have my usual shopping treat.

And of course, I wasn't shopping in Manhattan alone as I visited three cities this time. So I contributed my share of tax to three states I had been to this time. As I had not traveled anywhere in 2011, I let myself free this time. And what should have come had come. I had maxed out two of my cards and had to request for a temporary limit increase. Ha ha...

So what had I purchased during this trip?
- A pair of Chanel flats
- A pair of YSL flats
- A pair of Ferragamo flats
- A pair of Chloe platform sandals
- A Chanel brooch
- A pair of Chanel earrings
- A pair of Dior earrings
- A Chanel necklace
- A Tiffany & Co necklace
- A Tiffany & Co bracelet
- Tom Ford cosmetics
- Le Métier de Beauté Cosmetics
- A vintage Chanel tote
- A Longchamp Autour d'Ha Long tote bag
- and more

I know I should feel guilty, but I just don't feel the pinch. Not then and not even now, when I am paying for my bills. I even think I should have shopped more. And I am planning for a Hong Kong shopping trip.  This is bad...

Happy 2012!!!

Another year has passed and a new year has come. Life is still going on and many exciting plans are ahead. Let's welcome 2012 with a big smile.

Bun mam, a Southern Vietnamese dish

I have realized that I seldom talked about Vietnamese cuisine, besides a few popular dishes. This is quite strange as I like eating as much as shopping. Maybe it is because the huge backlog of my travel posts which I am trying to clear as quickly as possible.

I do not consider myself as a foodie. That requires a lot of knowledge and researches when eating and writing about a certain dish. I just like to eat good food. And good food to me might not taste so great to others, except for desserts. I am very confident in my sweet tooth. And very picky with which cakes/chocolate/snacks I consume. Every calorie counts after all.

Therefore, I can rarely recommend a good Vietnamese restaurant in Singapore. It is very frustrating to eat Vietnamese cuisine in this tiny island. The country is near to Vietnam, but hardly offers some decent places. At least, what I think good enough to pay more than 6 bucks for a bowl of beef noodles (known as "pho" to some). So once in a while, I will have to cook myself.

Yep, I do cook, if gasping is what you are doing. And I believe I cook quite well myself. I am just too lazy to cook more regularly. I do not like rice much, which is very strange for an Asian. I prefer noodles (especially those made from rice). And to have a delicious bowl of rice noodle soup, it takes some effort to churn out a good pot of soup. Only when I am in the mood, I will jump into the kitchen and cook some special Vietnamese dishes. This time, it is "Bun mam".

This is a less known dish from the South of Vietnam. It is particularly popular in the west of Southern Vietnam, i.e. Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, etc. In this region, it is also called "Bun nuoc leo" with different versions for different towns. However, there is always one common point, the soup.

Ah yes, the soup. This is what makes the dish so well-known with the local and might make foreigners walk away hastily. It is cooked from a variety of "salted fish" sauce and the smell of these sauces is very strong. Many people, even Vietnamese, could not stand the overwhelming smell. Some told me these sauces stank. So yeah, if you can't stand the smell, it must be hard to enjoy the food itself.

For my version of "bun mam", I use "mam ca linh" and "mam ca sac" to cook the stock. Then I add "ngai bun", a root which I think only those who know how to cook this dish have heard about it. And you must have it for the soup. If not, the dish will turn into "mam va rau", which could only be eaten with rice. After removing all the bones from those salted fish and other undesirable and unidentified things, I throw in some stalks of lemon grass to lessen the strong smell of the soup. At the same time, I fried some finely-chopped lemon grass and garlic to give the stock another extra kick of taste. About 5 minutes before turning off the fire, I add the above fried mixture and some eggplants into the soup. And it is ready to be served.

Due to limited resources in Singapore, I could only use squid, prawn and roasted pork as the main ingredients for my "bun mam". For the "bun" part, I buy thick bee hoon, or laksa noodles which is quite sufficient. After arrange all the ingredients into a big bowl to my liking, it is time to pour the soup in. And depending on personal liking, I will add Chinese garlic chives (he) and bean sprouts to the bowl. But it will definitely taste better with all the above ingredients. So if it is your first time to try this dish, you should try all of them and adjust your next bowl according to your taste.

Even though it has been more than 10 years since I cooked this dish, I seemed to retain my skills. If what my housemates reacted was true. And if you have a chance to try this dish, don't walk away because of the smell. Give it a try and you might have a new favourite Vietnamese dish.

Singapore shopping - Kenzoki and Burberry Beauty

Metro was having a 20% store-wide sale this week. Initially, I did not plan to buy anything except Chanel UV Essentiel and Givenchy Prisme Libre Loose Powder. These are two stable items in my make-up routine and stocking them always gives me a peace of mind. However, recently, I am thinking of trying out sunscreens from other brands as the price of Chanel UV Essentiel is increasing to an unacceptable level. But again, I do not want to waste money on trying new products and eventually still have to go back to Chanel. It is a very disturbingly tiresome argument I was having with myself.

Anyway, I was in a very bad mood this week due to family matters. So I knew that I would, either spend a bomb shopping or walk home empty-handed. With that kind of mood, I went into Metro Paragon and headed straight to Kenzoki. Err? That sounded so out of the blue. Well, at the time, I suddenly remembered Kenzoki also had a suncreen (which brand does not have?) and a lot of customers seemed to ask for it last time when I was there checking out its moisturizers. So I thought I might want to see if the stock had come in (it had been out of stock in July).

When I reached the counter, the SA was the one had served previously and I had felt quite comfortable with her. I asked to test the suncreen on my hand to feel texture and if it left a white cast on my skin. Even though the product looked thick at first on my skin, when I spread the liquid, it took less than a minute to absorb into my skin and leave nothing behind. No white cast and stickiness. And the coverage seemed great, just a few drops to cover my forearm. I thought to myself, maybe worth a try. I asked the SA about the price. $61, compared with $73 of Chanel. That was great. "I will take the suncreen, thanks!"

But I did not stop at that. I did not feel satisfied, so the SA recommended other products from Kenzoki. In the end, I walked out of the counter with a night eye cream (for dark circles) and an exfoliator for my face. I had some from Origins (GWP and reward points) but I was having a withdrawal from those products. And Kenzoki scrub had very interesting texture. So yep, I gave these products a try. After all, I am pampering myself so it should be money well-spent.

But that was all I bought in Metro. Amazingly, I did not think about stocking Givenchy loose powder. I passed by the counter without a second thought. I guess I still had until end of this year to buy a new box.

My next focus was Tangs and the newly-opened Burberry Beauty counter. Why? Because I wanted to take a look at Burberry Beauty products, especially its blushes. I was reading beauty blogs the past few months and got hooked into this brand. I am a sucker for clean and classy packaging. That is why Chanel, Givenchy and Kenzoki call to me. The design of Burberry beauty products could not be any less perfect. So yeah, I needed to see them for myself to satisfy my eyes, and then tested the products to see if they were as wonderful as those bloggers described them to be.

The counter was situated near to MAC and the perfume section of Tangs Beauty Hall. And it was quite empty when I was there, which made me hesitant to approach the counter. I just wanted to check out the products, but I might not buy anything. And an empty counter might make that difficult as the SAs would have more focus to push you. Again, my depressing mood prompted me to go there. (Yep, I usually do many thing unreasonable when I am stressed.)

The SA serving me turned out to be very polite and nice. She asked me if I was interested in a particular product and my answer was blush. Due to two unfortunate accidents, my eyes are extremely sensitive and dry nowadays. I cannot put on eye make-up without irritating them, which means eye shadows, mascaras, eye liners, etc. are out of my focus. So when I shop for my make-up, they usually include liquid foundation, loose powder, blush, eye brow related stuff, lip sticks and blush. Since I was sick of my current blushes at home, I looked forward to exploring some new options at Burberry.

Singapore counter seemed to carry all the light glows (that was what Burberry calls its blush) which were available on the UK website. This means more than what is offered on Singapore website. And the SA recommended Tangerie (No. 6) and Blossom (No. 5) to me. After trying both on my cheeks, I wanted to buy both colors. One interesting point about the blushes was that they looked quite different from the pan and on my cheeks. And different in a good way. The texture was another winning point, velvet and pigmented. What else could I expect from a blush? I was sold. But which color should I choose? After asking me a few more questions, the SA convinced me to take Tangerie as most of my current blushes were pink tone. Tangerie would give my blushes a variety.

So yeah, I happily took Tangerie home with me, after parting 61 bucks at the cashier. The price was high, but it was comparable with Chanel. Also, after I checked the website, the pricing in Singapore was quite compatible with other countries carrying the line, which made me even happier. And you will definitely see me at the next Tangs 12% sale.

Here are some shots I took of the blush. Beautiful, isn't it? However, due to my lousy iPhone camera, the color of the blush was not reflected well in the picture. It is the best to see it in real life.

Brugge - Kasteel Tillegem, a pictorial

Brugge eats - Drinking the best hot chocolate

I had very fond memories about chocolate in Brugge. It was cheap and available everywhere in the town. After 4 days there, I brought back quite a huge amount of chocolate that helped me to survive a travelling hangover. And of course, I had to try some hot chocolate when I was there.

I passed by Chocolaterie Sukerbuyc when finding my way to Minnewater. The claim of "The place to be to drink the best hot chocolate" sparked my interest. This shop had to have something to back up its confidence. So on my last day in Brugge, I stopped over and walked up the stairs to enter the café.

The shop was decorated in a quaint and lovely style. Colorful glass windows, wooden furniture and flowery tablecloth made me feel so happy. This was my favourite shop decoration. And it was hard to find such shops in Singapore and Vietnam. I had found one in Saigon but the whole atmosphere seemed so pretentious that I had had to leave after an hour.

I ordered the café's signature hot chocolate and a plate of waffle with butter. The food and drink were brought out promptly.

So what was so special about this drink that made it the best? Well, the white liquid in the white bowl was actually hot milk. And do you see the cup full of chocolate on the right-hand side plate? That cup was also made of chocolate. Before drinking, I had to put the cup and the chocolate inside it into the hot milk. Then stirring my mixture of milk and chocolate by using the mixing tool given. Until the chocolate was all melted into the milk. Tada, my hot choclate was ready to be drunk. And darn! It was so yummy that I had to share with my friends on Facebook. Yep, I was facebooking on my iPhone in the café as well. There was complimentary wifi for its guests. Couldn't bear to pay for the super duper expensive data roaming so I only went only if there was a free wifi connection around.

What about the waffle? Sad to say this but it was mediocre at best. I chose butter to go with my waffle and that was a big mistake. I should have chosen fresh/whipped cream. It would be a much better experience. Oh well, I went there for chocolate, not waffle after all. So I guess it was not a huge loss. So yeah, if you are around the town, don't hesitate, head to Chocolaterie Sukerbuyc and enjoy the best hot chocolate in town.