Crystal Prawn Dumpling 水晶虾饺

This is such a super dupper big failure, think I have to discard all, after eating the filling..hehe..The skin is super thick and chewy, don't get me wrong, the measurement is correct, it was me that lazy to use the weighing machine and everything was like agaration and here I have - lousy prawn dumpling !

Crystal Prawn Dumpling (recipe from BakingMum)

Ingredients for the dough
110 gm wheat starch
220 gm potato starch
160 gm boiling water

Ingredient A
3 water chestnut (minced)

Ingredients for the filling
300 gm fresh prawn
3 gm msg
3 gm salt
6 gm sugar
5 gm potato starch
1 tsp sesame oil

Method
1. Combine filling ingredients until elastic. Add in A.
2 Pour in the boiling water to the dough ingredients until half-cooked. Knead into a dough.
3 Knead dough into a long strip. Divide into equal parts, each 15 gm. Roll into flat round piece.
4. Wrap in 20 gm filling and fold into a har kow shape. Steam over high heat for 5 minutes.

Expressing Anal Glands

Is really a nasty job. I used to leave this to their handsome Vet - Dr. Kasey and their favourite groomer - Annie from APC but now, I've started to learn how to squeeze my furball's anal glands. (after soooo many years)

A little bit of anatomy - Anal glands are two small grapes' sized sacs near the anus. Some said is approximately 5 o'clock and 7 o'clock positions in relation to the anal circumference, some said 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock. I just feel them and it can be easily palpated when is full. Anal glands secretes a lubricant, enables a dog to expel the contents of the rectum. Every dogs has got their own smell and that mark its territory and identify each other. (you saw some dog smelling each other butt to say "hello"?)

Is important to squeeze the glands out when it is full, to prevent them from scooting and of course, infection. Smoochie is a smart boy, he can express the glands by himself whenever he poos. Unlike Twistie, he needs help every 2-3 weeks and if the glands is not cleared, he will start scooting and I will need to send him to Dr. Kasey, anyway, he sees the vet every 2-3 weeks for follow up and the charges is around $17. The staff at Springside was kind enough to me how to squeeze the glands out, to prevent another round of infection and it was tedious ... and very sinky.

Anyway, here are the steps I found online(I amended a little) :
-Secure the dog in a small room.
-Gather several 3-4 damp paper towels
-Place rubber gloves on.
-Face dogs rear away from you.
-Lift dogs tail, rolling it over to expose rear end.
-Locate anal glands (near anus at approximately 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock)
-Pinch forward and squeeze upward to push out the fluid, gently.
-Use paper towel to absorb the foul fluid or pasty discharge.
-Repeat process until glands are empty.
-Once you are done wash dog's rear end to reduce odor.
-Note: if possible this is advisable to do while bathing dog and wear gloves!

Mothers' Day

Happy Mothers' Day to Our Mummy and Mummy Natalie!!!

Why Durian Cake again? It is meant for MUMMY as she loves durian a lot. We had it delivered to our place during the noon time and mum wasn't even aware of it. When we brought the cake out from freezer, mum thought we bought it a day before *duh*

verdict : extremely delicious! But...was advised to place in the fridge for 5-6 hours before consuming(was frozen previously), well we did but when Nat cut the cake, the durian puree was oozing out..

The PowerPuff Girls Outings !

For some reasons we went to Harbour Front today but before that I brought M to Amoy Street Food Centre. I bought some famous kuih and orni from sgkueh and M queued for the famous wanton mee. Too bad we didn't manage to try the wonton mee as charsiew was out of stock and the auntie told us to come back next time. Sigh... Luckily I bought my favourite ondeh ondeh, steam tapioca cake, mum's favourite nine layer kuih and orni. Besides, I bought an 'UFO' - fried oyster cake! I don't fancy fried stuff, I have sweet tooth like the Lians ...

After that, we headed to Bugis as I wanted to see some wc and lightings at Jalan Besar. Margaret suggested that maybe we should have our lunch at Parco but when I saw 过桥米线 at HongGuo, I told M to order it! Yeah, the 过桥米线 Ben & I had during our stay in Shanghai last year. I miss it so much and I wanted to show M how it was prepared. I roughly explained the sequence and let M do the job. Haha, M keep saying we should order another bowl so I could take a better video of her, Hahaha..maybe next time

It was suppose to be oily but obviously it wasn't hence the soup is not hot at allI saw 炒手on the menu and yes, we ordered it too..nice nice but I still prefer the one I had at MacaoHow can I miss Mango Tango ...from Rockery

As I was too tired after visiting Phoon Huat at Bencoolen St, M & I decided to go home. Crazy M bought KFC for our dinner, I think she is planning to murder me --> I have URTI

TIME's most influential people

Here is the Complete 2008 TIME 100 List , I wasn't bother to google this until I heard "anwar ibrahim" and saw my favourite host; martha stewart on the tv.

Leaders and Revolutionaries
Michelle Bachelet, president, Chile (Hillary Clinton)
Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury)
Ben Bernanke, chairman, Federal Reserve (Justin Fox)
George W. Bush, president, United States (Silvio Berlusconi)
Hillary Clinton, U.S. senator and presidential candidate (Rob Reiner)
Dalai Lama, spiritual leader (Deepak Chopra)
Sonia Gandhi, president, Indian National Congress (Shashi Tharoor)
Robert Gates, secretary of defense, U.S. (Zbigniew Brzezinski)
Anwar Ibrahim, former deputy prime minister, Malaysia (Paul Wolfowitz) --->can't believe he is listed the top 100
Hu Jintao, president, China (Henry Kissinger)
Ashfaq Kayani, chief of army staff, Pakistan (Aryn Baker)
John McCain, U.S. senator and presidential candidate (Joe Lieberman)
Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistani militant leader (Peter Bergen)
Evo Morales, president, Bolivia (Joe Stiglitz)
Barack Obama, senator and presidential candidate (Deval Patrick)
Vladimir Putin, prime minister and former president, Russia (Madeleine Albright)
Kevin Rudd, prime minister, Australia (Cate Blanchett)
Muqtada al-Sadr, politician and militia commander, Iraq (Ricardo Sanchez)
Ma Ying-Jeou, president-elect, Taiwan (Michael Schuman)
Jacob Zuma, president, African National Congress (Rian Malan)


Heroes and Pioneers
Andre Agassi, founder, Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation (Andy Roddick)
Lance Armstrong, cyclist and cancer activist (Elizabeth Edwards)
Aung San Suu Kyi, leader, National League of Democracy, Burma (Anjelica Huston)
Tony Blair, former prime minister, Great Britain (Bill Clinton)
Mia Farrow, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador (Paul Rusesabagina)
Peter Gabriel, performer and co-founder, the Elders (Archbishop Desmond Tutu)
Kaka, Brazilian soccer player (Kasey Keller)
Mohammed al-Maktoum, leader of Dubai (Scott MacLeod)
George Mitchell, former U.S. Senate majority leader (Samantha Power)
Lorena Ochoa, Mexican golfer (Nancy Lopez)
Madeeha Hasan Odhaib, Baghdad council councilwoman (Queen Rania)
Randy Pausch, professor, Carnegie-Mellon, and motivational speaker (Katie Couric)
Oscar Pistorius, disabled sprinter (Erik Weihenmayer)
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, actors and activists (George Clooney)
Yoani Sánchez, Cuban blogger (Oscar Hijuelos)
Alexis Sindihije, founder, Radio Publique Africaine (Christiane Amanpour)
Oprah Winfrey, talk show host and philanthropist (Michelle Obama)
Bob and Suzanne Wright, founders, Autism Speaks (Tom Brokaw)


Scientists and Thinkers
Paul Allen, scientific philanthropist and co-founder, Microsoft (Story Landis and Thomas Insel)
Isaac Berzin, founder, GreenFuel Technologies Corp. (Fred Krupp)
Michael Bloomberg, mayor, New York City (Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.)
Larry Brilliant, director, Google.org (Jimmy Carter)
Nancy Brinker, founder, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and U.S. chief of protocol (Cokie Roberts)
Eric Chivian and Richard Cizik, environmental activists (Leith Anderson)
Michael Griffin, administrator, NASA (Marsha Ivins)
Jeff Han, research scientist (John King)
Mary Lou Jepsen, founding CTO, One Laptop Per Child (Brewster Kahle)
Wendy Kopp, founder and president, Teach For America (Jeffrey Kluger)
Harold McGee, food science writer (Alton Brown)
Mehmet Oz, cardiothoracic surgeon, author, commentator (Eric Ripert)
Peter Pronovost, Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care, Johns Hopkins (Kathleen Kingsbury)
Nicholas Schiff, neurology pioneer (Michael Kinsley)
Susan Solomon, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Rajendra Pachauri)
Jill Bolte Taylor, neuroanatomist, Indiana University (Dick Clark)
Craig Venter, founder, Institute for Genomic Research (Robin Cook)
Shinya Yamanaka and James Thomson, stem-cell researchers (Ian Wilmut)
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO, Facebook (Craig Newmark)


Artists and Entertainers
Judd Apatow, writer and director (Garry Shandling)
Mariah Carey, singer (Stevie Wonder)
George Clooney, actor, writer and director (Roseanne Barr)
Joel and Ethan Coen, writers and directors (Richard Corliss)
Miley Cyrus, actress and singer (Donny Osmond)
Robert Downey Jr., actor (Ben Stiller)
Peter Gelb, general manager, Metropolitan Opera (Anna Netrebko)
Elizabeth Gilbert, novelist, essayist and short-story writer (John Hodgman)
Herbie Hancock, jazz pianist and composer (Joni Mitchell and Wayne Shorter)
Khaled Hosseini, author (Laura Bush)
Rem Koolhaas, architect, professor, Harvard School of Design (Richard Lacayo)
Stephanie Meyer, author, Twilight series (Orson Scott Card)
Lorne Michaels, creator and producer, Saturday Night Live (Tina Fey)
Takahashi Murakami, artist and designer (Marc Jacobs)
Suze Orman, personal-finance adviser (Donny Deutsch)
Tyler Perry, playwright, actor and director (T.D. Jakes)
Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy, video game designers (Steven Van Zandt)
Chris Rock, comedian (Jerry Seinfeld)
Tim Russert, journalist and moderator, Meet the Press (Mario Cuomo)
Bruce Springsteen, songwriter and performer (Sean Penn)
Tom Stoppard, playwright (Ethan Hawke)


Builders and Titans
Jay Adelson, founder and CTO, Equinix, Inc. (Lev Grossman)
Michael Arrington, founder, TechCrunch (Arianna Huffington)
Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft (Guy Kawasaki)
Jeff Bezos, founder, chairman and CEO, Amazon (Josh Quittner)
Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs (Robert Reich)
Cynthia Carroll, CEO, Anglo American (Nicky Oppenheimer)
John Chambers, chairman and CEO, Cisco (John Doerr)
Jamie Dimon, president, JPMorgan Chase (Michael Bloomberg)
Mo Ibrahim, philanthropist and founder, Celtel (William Easterly)
Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and CEO, General Electric (Conan O'Brien)
Lou Jiwei, chairman, China Investment Corp. (Stephen Roach)
Steve Jobs, chairman, ceo and co-founder, Apple (Barbara Kiviat)
Neelie Kroes, European commissioner for competition (Ayaan Hirsi Ali)
Karl Lagerfeld, fashion designer (Zaha Hadid)
Rupert Murdoch, CEO, News Corp (Paul Steiger)
Ali al-Naimi, oil minister, Saudi Arabia (Lynn Westfall)
Indra Nooyi, chairman and CEO, Pepsico (Howard Schultz)
Radiohead, songwriters and performers (Edgar Bronfman Jr.)
Carine Roitfeld, editor-in-chief, French Vogue (Hedi Slimane)
Carlos Slim, Mexican businessman (Alvin Toffler)
Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata Group (Simon Robinson)
Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, entrepreneur (Riz Khan)

Talk-Show Hosts

Tyra Banks, Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O'Donnell, Suze Orman, Rachael Ray, Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey

Extracted from TIME cover

Nurse - an educator? a counsellor..

With only 4 years experience in the healthcare without a post-basic, I used to think, "how far can I go?"

Frankly speaking, I was thrilled when I was asked if I wanna become a Diabetic Nurse Educator. It is really a rare opportunity to come by, not that all educators are SRN but most institutes prefer to have SRN to become one. If I am at SGH, the chances is almost zero. The only setback - my patients are children.. *sad* I need a lot of courage to face newly diagnosed young children and give them support as well as guidance. PK also suggested that I can join nyp for their Certificate in Diabetes Nurse Educator course.

On the other hand, I know Ben wants me to stay at home and help him to "run that business"... I am really in dilemma..

Disclaimer : above pic taken from NUH official website

Appreciated

Talk about work satisfaction and sense of belonging, I've never felt this way after leaving onco ward 2 years back..

Diana : Morning Chua, sorry for disturbing you. May I have Vas's no?
Chua : Do you mean you can't go to work today? =( Her hp no is 9*******
Diana : Thanks. Yeah, I am having bad cough and running nose today. I'll ask Vas how's clinic first, If very buzy, I'll go work in the afternoon after seeing doc.
Chua : Today is quite packed, minus the nn clinic. Just check first and thanks for your help.
Diana : No problem, you rest la.
Chua : Very sorry. You are just a part time staff but work as hard as us. Really appreciate your help, :)
Diana : Thanks!

I used to work in a specialist clinic too but no one ever thank me like Chua. She is a very dedicated Senior Staff Nurse who goes all the way to help others and spent a great 25 years in nursing. Eventhough I don't know her for very long time, but I feel that she is really a role model. She says "thank you" almost every day to me and now she is on HL as she is listed for op soon, still, she worries about the clinic's situation! I still remember my ex colleague cancelled her leave for the same reason (not enough staff to work on busy days), my ex manager said,"You think clinic cannot function without you?" How mean and discouraging. But there are always good people out there and I always console myself - Tomorrow is a better day..

For those who really concern about me and wonder how my life is after leaving CCB, I am here telling you " MY LIFE IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN YESTERDAY"

New Hair Cut

I wanted to go back to Ms Akiko but I went to Sean, Ben's hair stylist as his charges is about the same as Maggies Friends and many raves from Ben after the past one year. Ben is a very fussy guy when choosing his hair stylist. He had gone to so many saloon over the years and he recommended Sean and Desmond from Le Saloon. Yeah, the one located at Takashimaya, behind LV boutique. Wonder how much are the charges? Desmond said I can go to him at a discounted rate : $90 for a cut! Well, I am just a HDB taitai so I will give it a miss!

Total damage : $41 (regular customer rate)
Fyi, he is a freelance hair stylist, if you want to hire him, let me know, I can pass you his hp no.

My loving & Doting Husband

We went to T3, then to Expo and followed by dinner at Big Eater. Maybe I didn't hydrate myself enough so my throat started to feel sore. While everyone was stucking in the delicious food, I became a fussy eater.

" Deep fried? I don't want. If I were to eat the nuts and yam ring, I think I'll lose my voice tomorrow. Haha"

I didn't know Ben was paying attention as he was busy taking photos of Cheryl throughout the evening. After dinner, we went to a Cold Storage nearby and Ben got a small tub of honey. Well, I know it is meant for me but what warm my heart the most was a glass of lemon honey drink on my desk after my shower.

Thanks Babe !

BIG EATERS @ Big Eater!

No. 34 Upper Changi Road (Jalan Pari Burong)
Picardy Garden
Singapore
Telephone: (65) 6397-0480

* 2 thumbs up *
I'll let the photos do the talking

Signature TOFU

Yam Ring

Pork Ribs

Broccoli with Mushroom

Wine Chicken

TAI LOK MIAN !!!!

Cheryl is Drawing

After spending some money at Expo *duh*, we headed to Big Eater !

While we were all busy ordering our tai lok mien and other dishes at Big Eater, N took out the mini drawing board for Cheryl; to keep her occupy. Cheryl was then busy with her drawing board. Little did we expect she will surprise everyone with this :

This little girl is drawing her daddy!!

An Unplanned Bravia

Don't walk there..

Is too close !

I swear it wasn't our intention to get any gadget stuff now! Going to Expo was just to kill some time as it was too early for dinner. Still, we ended up buying this handsome - why? - merely because of his awsome price.

T..........3

Impressive Design. Is really a "go- green" airport. Hopefully we can come back here again, not to see someone off ... *duh*

Chicken Rice Balls

My mummy is a good cook! I am so proud of her and that explained why my weight rose up 72 kg 8 years ago. Thanks to hubby who constantly reminded me that "health is wealth" few years back and I've learnt how to control my diet and most importantly, control the amount of food I consumed, no matter how nice it is. Okay, sorry for digressing, one of mum's signature dish is Hainanese Chicken Rice. As mentioned many times(in my blog) that we are pure Hainanese, how can we not know how to cook authentic chicken rice and make rice balls? We tried the famous chicken rice balls in Malacca but find it too oily and it is not handmade. It is very tedious to prepare as my mummy used her bare hand to roll the steaming hot rice with a little bit pressure to form into ball shaped. After rolling, her palms were all red and sore. Some may ask why must it be steaming hot? "so that the rice will stick onto each other and hold the shape nicely", said mummy.

All About You - Mcfly

My mood is great while listening to this song and I even found the chords for Ben to play for me. Any guitar players around?

It's all about you (it's about you)
It's all about you baby (it's all about)
It's all about you (it's about you)
It's all about you

Verse 1:
Yesterday you asked me something I thought you knew
So I told you with a smile, it's all about you
Then you whispered in my ear and you told me too
Said you'd make my life worthwhile, it's all about you

Chorus:
And I would answer all your wishes
If you ask me to
But if you deny me one of your kisses
Don't know what I'd do
So hold me close and say three words like you used to do
Dancing on the kitchen tiles, it's all about you, yeah!

(Guitar solo)

Chorus 2:
And I would answer all your wishes
If you ask me to
But if you deny me one of your kisses
Don't know what I'd do
So hold me close and say three words like you used to do
Dancing on the kitchen tiles
Yes you make my life worthwhile
So I told you with a smile
It's all about you

It's all about you (it's about you)
It's all about you baby (it's all about)
It's all about you (it's about you)
It's all about you baby (it's all about)

The Brink of Law

I have no idea how come I am so into this Hong Kong TVB Drama Series. I just can't wait till this Friday to watch the last episode, So I went online to watch them! ..Arrgghh, hate the ending..

Cited online
剧 名：突围行动
英 名：The Brink Of Law
监 制：梅小青
主 演：马俊伟、吴卓羲、廖碧儿、杨思琦、徐子珊、米雪
类 型：时装剧
制 作：电视广播（国际）有限公司
集 数：25集
故事大纲：
重重突围
揭开外围集团层层黑幕
外围集团害人不浅，引起非法借贷、走私贩毒、买卖军火等罪行。j剧中男女主角凭着不屈不挠的精神瓦解外围集团。
一心以伸张正义为己任的高原本有大好家庭，父亲、却因被揭发赌外围马而自杀。高好友专门调查外围集团，发现案中有案，结果离奇毙命。高转职到时装店工作，发现高层可能就是令父亲及好友死亡的外围集团主谋。高向警方提供资料，警方要求他潜伏在内充当内线。高险露出破绽，幸得前女友颖帮忙，却发现对自己若即若离的颖原来是潜入公司调查的现役警员。

May Day

Is May Day !! May Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day, aka Labour Day, that's why almost everyone is having a day off today.

I personally like this month a lot. *biased* It is because

- is my Birthday Month.

- if you can recall, our wedding ceremony was held in the month of May 07.

- there will be 2 public holidays in the month of May (Labour Day & Wesak Day).