Breakfast for Dinner, anyone?

The conquest of All Day Breakfast dining bistros in Singapore breeds just like rampant wild mice – they’re almost invading every nook and cranny of this little island, and this is a mammoth fête for my squealing tummy! Pancakes, Eggs Benedict and Waffles for dinner - who would be pitted against this hard-to-resist menu?

Over the weekends, I popped by Wild Honey at Scotts Square (the franchise is pretty new in Scotts), of course I just had to make a booking 2 weeks prior because I’m Singaporean and that “Kiasuism” runs thick and deep in my blood. Thank God for small favours, that I made a prior booking as there was a snaking human queue from the entrance of Wild Honey.

The meld of European, Country and French interior, together with the intricate and contemporary settings was a major turn on for me. We didn’t get to plunk ourselves on the large comfy looking sofas, however, we were seated at a wooden dining table, shaft with pastel wooden chairs and lined with antique wares right down the table top. Very conducive ambience for a lovely tea party with your lover/ small groups of friends.

An unassuming cottage long-table setting

Because I had bad runs in the stomach over the Lunar New Year period, I told myself to stay clear from dairies, but fortunately, I did otherwise. We ordered 4 main meals and 2 beverages, oh-so-satisfying (and boy, this posting is definitely making me hungry yet again!).

Review: English Breakfast
Rating: 4/5

Loved the Mexican chilli beans! This set is a perfect recipe of spices, richness and savouriness – all on one plate (though the pork sausage is a tad bit tough). The thick slices of bread was sweet and crisped with the right consistency and the scrambled egg was tasty on its own. An impeccable meal meant to fill one up from breakfast till supper.

Review: European Breakfast
Rating: 4.5/5

Don’t judge this underrated-looking breakfast because it is not as happening as the rest. This is my all time favourite, compared to the rest. The finely sliced parma ham that hugs tightly around the eggs are slightly salted, a very good blend to the delicately tasty egg yolks. The mushrooms are the bomb! They’re pan-seared with olive oil, and they ooze out a succulent dosage of juice that will make your tongue hail HALLELUJAH!

Review: Tunisian Breakfast
Rating: 3.5/5

Thank God we shared this dish. It got a bit overwhelming after a few mouthfuls, albeit its scrumptiousness. This dish is slightly spicy and very MEXICANO. Well in fact, it tasted just like spicy spaghetti sauce with a hint of herbs. The egg yolk was almost fortified and we were mortified at the toughness. Other than that, it’s a decent dish meant for sharing.

Review: Caribbean Breakfast
Rating: 4.5/5

Nothing will supplant this winning main course! Because I’m a pancake/ waffle-type of lady, I take this serving of Caribbean breakfast seriously and I am utterly beyond satisfied! The waffles are sliced in 4 decent portions, snugly plastered side by side by a dollop of smooth, heavenly and saccharine (without being overly cloying) buttercream. The brown flakes sprinkled on top are actually dried coconut flakes – do not be turned off by this, because I’m no coconut fan myself but this has got to be one of the best coconut flakes I’ve ever tasted! It is very unlike the artificially-synthetic looking and tasting coconut strips which you find in our famed Tu Tu Kueh. Instead, these flakes are toasted to crisp perfection, yet they still retain their succulence, with no compromises! Instead of the typical maple syrup/ honey, this Caribbean Breakfast comes complete with a portion of Passionfruit extract. Drizzle this extract over the divine waffles and there you have it, a happy belly for the rest of the day!

Accentuate your face, mummies!

As a lady, I obstinately coax all other women (grannies, mummies, executives – kids not included) to coddle and love yourself by learning how to heighten your best features for self-confidence! If you haven’t been dyed-in-the-wool on that, you’re missing out on how much more love you’d be showering yourself with if you’ve learnt the trick of making YOU feel loved by YOU!

Women's best girlfriends

Vanity is ineffectual in this perspective because I strongly feel that all women should make themselves feel self-confident, irrespective of place, company and situation. I rarely leave home without partially dolling myself up – can’t leave my eyeliner behind! Some might catalogue this as plain narcissism, but I undertake that I’m only building my blocks of contentment in this manner. New age ruling pronounces that natural beauty does exist - imperceptibly.

To begin with, thanks to all my supporters and readers who have steadfastly blog stalk me and left me comments/ mails on arresting topics you’re keen in me covering. First, being, make-up tips. I don’t legitimately confess that I’ve got great make-up skills, but I do admit that I’m decent at dolling my face up.

First off, I start with slapping splodges of concealer to hide my dark eye rings and any visible redness on my face. I swear by ZA 2 concealer as it masks my blemishes effortlessly! After camouflaging my flaws, I pat on a thin layer of compact powder to even out the tone – escapism from patchy facial tinting.

Patting on foundation over concealer helps to even your skin tone

Because I don’t have lush eyebrows, I stroke in light brushes of pencil linings to accentuate my brows.

Lining my eyes is a must (trust me, I still do love my eyes whether they’re lined or not), but I’d line them whenever I leave my home as I adore well-defined eyes. I start off by lining the inner corners of my eye with liquid eyeliner, and continue with jagged strokes across my lash line. I don’t line my lash line with 1 single straight stroke because that usually turns out unnatural and tacky. Keeping your make up as natural as conceivable is always the best! I end off my upper lid lining with a cat-eye stroke at the edge.

Stroking in where necessary 

Draw your lash lines with jagged strokes

Once my upper lids are lined, I’ll switch my liquid liner to a kohl-based pencil for my lower lash line. The kohl-based pencil helps avert smudging as the lower lash line is predisposed to dampness. I start with a sheer cat-eye stroke from the outer end of my eye (joining my upper lash’s edge) and continue with jagged strokes all the way till it reaches ¾ of my entire eye. I don’t line my whole lower lash line as it is a bit heavy for non-occasions.

Starting from the end of my lower lash 

Stopping at 3/4 of the length of my eye

To contour your cheek and jaw line, I use an angled brush to highlight my cheek bones, ending off with gradual dusting of bronzer along my jaw line. This certainly helps attaining a quick and fast contouring solution to your facial outline (great help if you’ve got big jaw line and undefined cheek bones).

Define your jaw and cheek bones instantly!

Dust your cheeks with a natural rose-toned blusher (some prefer neutral coloured ones, whichever suits your skin best).

Gradually dust your cheeks with pats of blusher

I seldom toy with my lashes as mascara weakens the lashes almost instantaneously, neither do I curl it often. I don’t highly endorse my facial products as different skins adapt to skin products contrariwise. The most important regimen in your makeup and skin care guide is to clean off your makeup meticulously! It doesn’t matter if you’re using Chanel, Maybelline or Mei Fang Synthetic Makeup set from China – if you don’t clean off your makeup properly, you’d have potholes and blemished skin for sure.

hmm... dodgy synthetic makeup...

I’ve never fancied makeup removers or sheets as I don’t feel that they effectively remove makeup. I swear by Johnson’s baby oil as my makeup remover. What I do is that I soak my cotton squares in Johnson’s baby oil and wipe it across my face (lash line and mascara included). Let the oil seep in for a bit and wash off your face with a good facial wash. Your face will feel as fresh as new – not clogging or greasy at all, contrary to stereotypical mindsets. What oil does is that it sits in your pores, causing the makeup sediments to float to the surface of your skin!

My makeup MUST HAVE!

Now, how cool is that?

WAGGIN’ DRAGON YEAR!

Happy Lunar New Year, my dearest readers! I hope you’ve had a noteworthy and jubilant break like I did. Unreservedly, fortunate folks get the days off and don’t start work till Friday/ next Monday. A trickle of overachievers are already back at work today – yes, I’m the lucky few workhorses.

Unregrettably shagged @ work at the start of the Dragon Year!

Anyway, here’s wishing one and all a very welcoming year ahead, filled with love, harmony, elation and everything honeyed! Because the Lunar New Year spans across 15 days, it is still comparatively considered an unsanctioned holiday. Stay blissful and optimistic (ditch those Feng Shui quandaries away!).

Our quiet photo studio

 I have to admit I was very daunted when someone said that the Rabbit zodiac would suffer an abysmal year, and so would the Dog. Well, let’s just not stress on that – this is the season of HUAT, HUAT, HUAT if lady luck has been by your side (she has definitely abandoned me for sure).

You might not wish to check out your predicaments

Happy New Year, folks!

Feed me some beetles, please!

Alas, a scrumptious and abundant start to the New Year came knocking on my palates’ door in the form of a pack of vivid handmade beetles! If you’ve read my previous posting, I was highly recommending a dear friend’s baked creations for both its ingenuity and healthfulness. Just yesterday, I finally got my hands on 50 vivacious beetles all neatly stacked and packed!

My oh-so-colourful box of joy <3

My first taster of the soft yet spongy steamed beetle simply left me hankering for more. The texture of the steamed cake was nothing short of perfect, with a decent proportion of sweetness and velvetiness.

Who would resist?

Because I’m almost the world’s number 1 fan of Nutella, I vouch it by ordering a batch of 50 Nutella beetles. The Nutella beetles were not cloyingly sweet and the spurt of Nutella was just of the right amount – not too saccharine, not too heavy on the palate.

Soft, spongy texture

These bite-sized beetles will substitute all the unhealthier Chinese New Year goodies for me and I no longer have to feel all that guilty after all that snacking! The beetles are made with no butter, no margarine and no unnecessary fats and oils – almost the best chow for vain people like me!

Just the right amount of Nutella!

They also come in Kaya and Coconut flavours. 

Perfect gift/ pot luck item for any occasion! 

Find the baker at:
Dina Liyana
shaylasisters@hotmail.sg

Happy Baby = Happy Mummies = Happier Daddies

I retell the tale of a pre-pregnancy fable that equates to delivering happy babies! I do confess (and I do this fulsomely), that as luck would have it, I’VE GOT A HAPPY BABY!

Doing what she does best

Of course, happy babies still do bellow, wail and protest as would any other babies. The difference in that is, in my decree, happy babies smile at blank walls; happy babies smile at scary faces; happy babies smile at ceiling fans; happy babies smile at motion graphic on telly; happy babies squeal and shriek after they’ve pooped; happy babies … just make you feel awesomely happy too!

Sheer smile at 4 days old

There are times in which my girl yowls for no apparent reason (I’m assuming she may have been distressed by something she had seen/ heard/ felt) earlier, and it’s only during those times when I just feel dejected at not being able to appease and pacify her. There was once, I threw in the towel and needed to find an escape route for both my throbbing arms and sore ears. I gently laid my exasperated and shrieking girl in her cot. Instantaneously, my girl looked up at me with beady eyes and arrested her yelps. Before I could pick her up again, she gave me the widest, cheekiest smile and started babbling at me. That’s my higgledy-piggledy, albeit happy, girl.

While entertaining me on the bed

Honestly, have you not felt that your world has been rehabilitated after your wailing baby smiles back at you? Because I have and that feels terrifically euphoric!

Just this morning, I got a text from my tremendously rapt and fascinated sister. She said to me that she stole glances at my girl who was in her cot this morning and caught my girl smiling widely like a Cheshire cat, blankly. When she managed to get my girl’s attention, my girl started squealing in delight, smiling from ear to ear (as crazy as her mummy!). Because we always play “yi chiang” with my girl (motion of us grabbing my girl’s arms and allowing her to push herself to sit up), my sis thought she’d play “yi chiang” with my girl before she left for work this morning. As anticipated, not only was my girl amused, smiling and being oh-so-over-the-moon, my sister was, unsurprisingly, equally excited. At the end of the mini exercise, my sis laid my girl back on her back without attempting to carry her at all. Instantaneously, my girl stared brutally at her, wiping her wide grin off her face. She didn’t cry, though. Oh, Lord please bless me with an ingenious kid!

My smiley girl at 5 days.

In my books, my girl is one of the happiest babies I’ve seen (not just because she’s mine), and I thank heavens for that!

Happy babies make for Happy friends!

Well, many people do undergo pre-natal blues and all that depression crap that comes along. Mercifully, I only suffered from that nonsense after giving birth. There are certain rules in rewarding your 9-month toil with a happy baby.

•          Stay happy. It sure is hard to do when you’re swelling in the belly with every progressive week, but being happy releases endorphins that will be passed on to your baby, so in order to recompense yourself, you MUST try to stay happy.
  
•       Exercise. Exercising releases endorphins (a happy compound) that will ultimately yield a happier   baby!

Walking with your dog is a good form of exercise!

• Chocolates! Dark chocolates are almost a MUST HAVE through the course of my pregnancy. Do not opt for milk chocolates (Mars/ Snickers/ Milky Bar etc) as they are coated with high amounts of sugars. Opt for dark chocolates (you can get a good bar of smooth and well-blended dark chocolate from Ikea, which is also extremely cost effective!)

Choose only the darkest chocolates!

OOther than the above, it is imperative that you stay optimistic and chuck all your worries aside!

Remember to throw this expression aside!

A Day in the life of Valerie... in Singapore

A day is incomplete without a meeting!

I am Singaporean and what makes up a paramount fragment of my life, is really, work – to be and stay employed. How desolate! Anyway, I’ve categorically decided to pen a regular day of nothingness but work. And no, it is not a bluster post, incongruent with how every Singaporean would sit and bombast for hours about how distraught they are in the office, yet when asked to switch jobs, they’d rather not. Oh quizzical world, isn’t it?

Do we seriously have a population shortage?

Classic example of a "stare-and-I'll-kill-you" incident

I start my day off at 8am and commute by public transportation (Go Green, YEAH!) to and from work. Because I stay right at the end of the whole MRT line, I don’t usually have to fight to slot myself in a paltry space amongst other glum-faced commuters (step on their feet by accident will get you nothing but the executioner’s stares). Us, Singaporeans, find it especially tough to pull off a smile in the early morning. Just don’t stare back or you might end up in the hospital!

You don't want to be scared blue as a hippo!

I practically encounter people from obviously very different walks of lives – iPhone idiots (who’re seemingly virtually and figuratively glued to their iPads and iPhones and everything Apple) who are also the people who won’t evacuate should there be a Grizzly bear sharing their apps beside them; long-armed invaders who’d spread open their Straits Times and conquer your invisible comfort space as if attempting to plaster and share their newspaper foreground with the ones beside them; perspiring aunties and uncles, clad in polo tees and mismatched shorts, holding onto the stanchions and handgrips for dear lives, yet giving you that sickening stare that actually turns you off enough to not want to give up your seat (admit it, I’m sure it happened at least once!), and who can forget, that immaculately clad working executive who’s lying fast asleep on your shoulders.

iPhone idiot.

Ritual 1: Open the blinds!

Ritual 2: Trawl through pantry

Anyway, breakfast is a simple affair of bread or oatmeal biscuits, with 3-in-1 coffee (yeah, a MUST-HAVE now). 

Peanut Butter bread/ IKO Oat biscuit

I’m beholden that out of all the other units in our decrepit building, we’ve got the swankiest office unit. A day in the office starts with my colleagues and I chatting about really hysterical and nonsensical topics. This sure is a treadle to starting our day right. 

Yup, we're an Advertising, Graphic designing and Interior Design firm!

Because I hold the fort for Advertising, Marketing and Copywriting, a large part of my daily job comprises of editing, writing, conceptualizing and designing campaigns for our clients. I’ve recently also befitted a fashion merchandiser’s portfolio by providing contents for advertorials and editorials on importation of the latest fashionable wears. Thumbs up to that, I’ve managed to learn a thing or two on garbs and fabrics.

Looking a bit serious at work

Writing FASHION

A bible for all my fashion editorials

By 1pm, we’re all out for lunch. The crew and I are never fickle with settling on a place to eat because we’re just simply not spoiled for choices at all! We jaywalk (all the time) to have lunch at the Traffic Police building just across our office – no pun intended! Till date, we haven’t received a fine for that … YET.

Doesn't scare us no more!

Ritual 4: Periodically sweeten my day, staring blankly at my girl

Oh, its a must to change out of heels, into leg warming comfies :)

Lunch is a vital meal for me but I go light on my tummy because I hate feeling sluggish like most people do after lunch. Because my crew are guys, they’d chow down huge plates of rice and noodles and are quite so often bemused at how my lunch menu usually is (everything MUST go with my triangle jelly!) Soups, sandwiches, desserts, porridge… anything light usually ends up on my plate, alongside a multi-tiered triangle jelly that I can never go without.

Jelly is like ... well, RICE!

Work ends at 6pm but we’re usually not gone till 6.30pm and I head to the Circle line back to the East. In Singapore, you’ll definitely be caught in a jam, wherever – traffic jam, human jam, train jam, SMRT jam, bus jam… 

Nothing extraordinary!

I don’t go light on dinner to make sure that I don’t overcompensate on my lunch. Dinner is my favourite meal of the entire day, when I can sit back and appreciate munching on my food without being conscious of the time. Better still, I’ve always wanted dinner by a serene lake or sea of some sorts, but it’s always near impossible here in Singapore, unlike Melbourne where we had the entire Docklands to ourselves.

Still, my work life sure is pretty interesting! How about your’s?

You can have dinner by the dock, together with free-ranging penguins

Dinner by Docklands, Melbourne

Or you can even be creative and have dinner right HERE!