Announcement!

Yo people what's up! I would like to make an announcement real quick :) as I now think that I have more to write on reviewing good food and good restaurant, I decide to shift my writing corner from this blog to Instagram acc! 

I will still post on the blog once in a while for recipes or other stuffs but food reviews will be done on my Instagram acc :)

Please please please follow me on Instagram!! My user id is: plem_official , which also stands for "pay less enjoy more". Food reviews will be focused on delicious food with affordable price :)

You can also get updates from my Facebook acc (Plem_official) or twitter acc (@plem_official)! Please please support me and have a great journey discovering new great foodie places with me :)

Pay less and enjoy more!

Brunch At Little Diner

Just a simple review on Little Diner, which is a casual cafe located at bukit timah. It's actually quite difficult to park nearby as the road in front of the shop is not exactly wide enough therefore in the end of the day is about luck haha. We were really lucky as the second we drove in, a car parked right in front of the cafe was leaving. Hooray! Not difficult at all lol.

Anyway the interior of the shop is quite dim which is not really my cup of tea. However, the waitress serving us was really friendly. The time when we reached there isn't any table available for us so they actually set up another table for 4 for us at the back of the shop, which is actually really thoughtful. As we are extremely hungry ( at least I AM extremely hungry), we decided our order real fast. My bf is so hungry that he decided to mimic British slang while speaking English. Ya I know, make no sense at all.

The food was served real fast and because I was too hungry, I forgot to take pic of the very delicious fluffy omelette stuffed with wild mushrooms and truffle oil. I remembered Gordon Ramsay once said that he hates truffle oil but oh well I am not so professional so I'm good haha.   The toasts served at the side is also very good, soft and crunchy, love it!

These were what we ate, including supernova Benedict (New York style egg Benedict with smoked salmon), crab cake Benedict and red velvet pancakes. 

I find the toast under the eggs Benedict is kinda hard as it's a flat toast. However the crispy bacon in the crab cake one is nice. Also the crab cake is very Asian style which makes me feel like having a Vietnamese pho or some noodle soup haha. 

Close up of the red velvet pancakes. Served with honey/maple syrup, cream cheese, whipped cream and strawberry slices. Not exactly a wow but still good. Find the pancakes not fluffy enough. 

Overall is quite good in terms of the food, speed and services. As for the price, I think it's quite average for above average singapore cafe. Each dish costs about 10+ dollars. Hope you all enjoy :)

Japanese milk bread

So I made bread this week and the more challenging part to produce the recipe is that I follow my heart when I add the ingredients lol.

Anyway after watching the baking tv programme, I decide to look for recipe making soft and fluffy bread like the one I can get in bakery shop. So I come across this recipe which use a relatively Asian technique to make bread. The website I used as reference: http://homecookinginmontana.blogspot.com/2013/03/japanese-milk-bread-using-tangzhong.html

So this tangzhong is the secret weapon in this recipe, it's basically a mixture of heated flour+water. What I did is pour some flour maybe around 40-50g and add water to cover the flour. Then I heat it until it achieve a 80% opaque glue-y texture. For the pic details please refer to the website above.

Anyway for my recipe, I basically pour the amount of flour I want to make around 4 regular bread as sold in bakery store. I guess should be around 150g. Then add the amount of sugar I want around 3 tablespoons. And approximately 5g of yeast. Then what I did is I roughly mix the dry components and then add in cold milk and cream and the tangzhong. The amount of the liquid amount is generally depends on the dry mixture. The ratio of the milk: cream: tangzhong is 4:2:4 Tablespoons. Just about enough to produce a dough. So take time to slowly mix it till the right texture. The only thing that I missed out is the egg. But the product shows that it actually doesn't really matter as my dough is relatively more watery than it should be, so it has enough moist. 

Anyway as usual, after kneading (I use olive oil and butter to knead instead of just flour so the dough will be less hard and solid), leave the dough to grow and then shape the dough. Use egg to glaze the top and start baking :) I put the bread in oven under 180 degree Celsius for 25-30 minutes. 

Dang dang!

 Nice golden crust on top, soft and fluffy with hint of sweet and milky taste. This is my version of Japanese milk bread :) very satisfied with the incorporation of tangzhong and I will definitely use this recipe again, although its not accurate at all hahaha! 

For a more accurate recipe please refer to the website I shared above lol. Happy baking!

Cheesecake with caramel sauce

This time, I made something more complex than what I baked previously. It consist of 3 parts :)

Biscuits base:

I estimate the amount of biscuits I need by spreading the un-crushed little biscuits into the mould. Then I liquify the butter and mix together with the crushed biscuits and some sugars. Taste and adjust the flavor and required butter. Make sure the butter is sufficient to hold the biscuits together. After that just use something to compress the base onto the mould or in my case the cupcake paper. Then, just put it in fridge.

The cheesecake:

I used 200g of cream cheese, mix with 1 egg and a tablespoon of milo and sugar for flavoring purpose. And that's all u need to do lol. Scope the mixture onto the cold biscuit base and put it in oven. I still haven't gotten the way to prevent the cheesecake from cracking, but anyway I think the timing is crucial. I suspect 10-15 minutes under 170 degree is sufficient to make it cooked. However, a larger mould will need more time. The timing I provided is based on the size of cupcake mould.

Caramel sauce:

150g of sugar in sauce pan to make it melt and boiled. U can stir a bit to make the sugar evenly heated. But when it start melting, just use the handle of the pan to shake it gently. You will achieve a nice amber colour when the sugar is completely caramelized. Then, add in 50g butter and stir it. Lastly just add in sufficient amount of heavy cream by observing the texture of the mixture. You will want to achieve a slightly sticky and half transparent liquid. Then just pour into the container to cool it down. Heat up the amount you needed for the cake and store the rest in the fridge :)

And this, is my first cheesecake attempt :) not as creamy as I wanted as I slightly overbaked it but still look great :)

Butter scones

Hello ppl! I'm back with a good recipe to make scones :) actually I tried to make it 3 times already and this is the most successful attempt. The previous experience included uneven temperature oven which burned the bottom of the scones and shivery hands that pour way too much milk into the mixture which I tried to fix the problem by adding flour. Well, as expected, the final products look more like a Chinese shao bao than scones @.@

The first batch of scones look like this lol.

And this, my friend, is the successful batch :) it does look like scone right? (Please say yes lol.)

Anyway I adapted a recipe which I found online and I made the self raising flour myself by mixing normal flour and baking powder. As I was using the salted butter, I omitted all the salts required for the recipe. The substitution of self raising flour with normal flour is: 1 cup of self raising flour 130g is equal to 1 cup of normal flour plus 1 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder plus 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

Recipe is as below:

1 cup 130g of self raising flour

30g salted butter

25g caster sugar

Around 65-75mL milk

Little bit of egg liquid

Very easy busy. Rub in the butter into the flour and make it looks like crumbles. Basically u can cut the butter into very small pieces first or for me I just scope in enough butter and cut them in the flour using the wooden spatula. The crucial point here is that u have to keep the butter cold so that it won't melt. Then, just stir in the sugar.

To make the dough, I added the milk very gradually thanks to the precious experience. U just have to add the minimum amount of milk to combine the crumbles to become a dough.

Lastly, cut the dough using the cutter or like me I just used my hand to separate the dough to make the size I want. However make sure u have enough height for each scones around 2.5cm so that the final product is thick enough. Glaze the scones with the egg and start baking it! The oven is set to 220 degree Celsius to bake the scones around 15 minutes. 

I tried to taste the scones when they first come out from the oven and they are soft inside. I thought I did it wrong again. But after they cool down, their texture changed so I know I make it right this time :)

Panna cotta

I dunno if I'm doing it in the traditional way. Basically I just want to satisfy my milk pudding crave therefore I made this. It wasn't easy as I was trying to figure out my own recipe so I have a few failed attempts. 

Anyway the successful recipe is as below:

About 100mL full cream fresh milk

1 teaspoon condensed milk

1 teaspoon agar agar powder

So what I did is I mix everything and heat them with medium fire so that the powder will melt. Then just wait for it to settle in the fridge. I didn't mix the powder with water to make normal agar agar mixture as I scare it will become too like normal pudding instead of creamy milk pudding. I used agar agar powder to substitute gelatin but I guess they are more or less the same lol.

And the experience I gained from my fail attempts:

1. Have to melt the agar agar powder if not it will not settle the pudding and will taste powdery

2. Never cook the egg with the milk as it will turn into scramble egg

3. Add egg only if you are going to cook the pudding in oven

Ya I made some scramble eggs @.@ so please don't repeat my experience and make some successful pudding :)

New nail colours!

Yes I'm being very very lazy recently. Can't be arsed to renew my blog everyday so I only blog when I have something new to talk about. My life is so damn boring nowadays and I don't want to blog about craps everyday haha. 

Anyway I bought new nail polish from SASA! They have such an amazing deals that I get nail polish at RM3.10 per bottle. The original price for the nail polish is RM3.90 and they have further 20% off! I wasn't aware of the discount when I dig around to choose for colours I like so I got like such a pleasant surprise when I pay at the counter lol. Ya so easily satisfied haha. 

Anyway I chose some light colours this time, including pastel purple and light blue. The solution seems to be quite watery for the purple one so I applied like 3 layers to make it look solid. However the blue colour has no such problem and I can easily get the solid colour by applying one layer. Anyway, both colours are nice but I prefer the purple one more. Looks kinda cool and make my fingers look soft and pinkish haha. They are quite long lasting as they still look good after a week. So I'm very happy with the purchase haha.

This is how the colours look like. 

I really love buying nail polish from Sasa. They have a lot of interesting and fashionable colour which makes me feel excited :) however u'll need to dig around to get a good bottle. Trust ur instinct when choosing the colour. Go bold! 

2nd visit: Passion Food Cafe & Bakery

Yes I visit this place again for lunch lol. This time I manage to get the say cheese burger haha! 

Not too much about the ambience and other stuff this time as I have already talked about it on my previous post. Just gonna focus on the food today :)

Cafe latte ordered by my bf. The small cookie was delicious! Very buttery which I like lol. Love the effort they made for the different foam art for every customer. 

I ordered the green tea latte. It tasted a bit weird at the beginning maybe because I never drink a proper green tea latte before. The previous experience was bad as it tasted like green tea flavored milk without any taste of coffee. Don't worry, it wasn't from here. Anyway, after a few sips, I tasted the light green tea taste together with my usual latte taste. And I got a different foam art from my bf's latte haha.

 

Egg Benedict ordered by my bf. It was very good actually. The poached eggs were nicely done with the right amount of sauce on top. When the dish was served, the eggs move like a really bouncy pudding haha. Love it. 

And finally the say cheese burger! However, it was a little bit disappointing. We both think that the le burger was actually nicer and juicier. The herb taste in the chicken was slightly too strong for us and therefore overpower the meat. However the bread was nice and soft. I like this bread more. 

As usual, we bought lots of cakes from here again lol. This time I tried strawberry soufflé cheese cake. It was nice. Very soft with sufficient taste of the cheese. Equally good as the strawberry garden cake. My bf's father said the white forest cake was too sweet for him as it was a white chocolate cake lol. As for the durian boat, the durian taste was not rich enough. 

I think they really make great strawberry cakes and tiramisu. But for the others, might still need to explore a little bit more.  Not really feel like trying their macaroons as I find them to be too flat. Doesn't look as nice as the one I ate before. But oh well, the one i ate was from Pierre Hermes which is like the branded macaroons in Europe lol. 6 pieces for 15 pounds. They have to be great lol. 

Anyway, just realize passion food they sell breads in weekdays too. Might go and get it some day when I have chance to go there next time :)

Passion Food Cafe & Bakery

Went to PF last weekend with a few people and had quite a good experience there. It was quite easy to find, just look out for the bright pink board haha. The interior is not very big but is suitable for a cafe. Kind of similar atmosphere at patisserie love but more food there. 

Staffs are very friendly and helpful. They actually provide afternoon tea during weekends and Friday. Didn't try that as I was looking forward to get some proper meals there. Unfortunately the say cheese burger was sold out that day so I ordered the le burger instead. 

The dish is very filling and the beef was extremely juicy. Overall it's a 10/10 for the burger. The onions in the burger was sautéed too so it was very nice. 

This is the crab pasta ordered by a friend. I tried a bit and for people who love pasta, I think the chef did a good job . Not over cooked and with sufficient amount of crab taste which is not too cheesy. 

We also tried the escargots but find it very disappointing as the meat was very very little. I guess they over cooked the escargots therefore the meat shrinks. 

The cakes were nice. We ordered the strawberry cake I bought last time, still the best among all haha. Also ordered strawberry pie, salted caramel and lychee martini. However the last 2 cakes were not as good as expected. The salted caramel tasted more like chocolate cake lol. Anyway they still do a better job on strawberry cakes haha. 

Patisserie Love

I visited a newly opened dessert place recently. It's the 2nd branch of Passion Food Cafe but with different concept. PF is a cafe which serve meals while PL is more like Starbucks concept but the main attractions are the cakes and cupcakes. 

The environment is quite relaxing with minimal but sufficient decorations. However I think they can provide more sofa seats instead of the wooden chairs. The background music is soothing. The selections of cakes and cupcakes are quite a lot. The drinks menu is quite good too. The staffs are very friendly and helpful, very good customer services.

As I am full when I was there, I only ordered a coffee and sit there with my bf reading the free magazines provided. We managed to get the sofa seats so no complaints haha. 

Speed of serving is normal. Not particularly fast but they do make some effort on the latte I ordered haha. Love the bear lol. I ordered hazelnut latte and it taste good. I notice the syrups they use are same as the one in Starbucks/ coffeebean, not sure which one though lol.

I bought 4 cakes for takeaway as they having the opening offer, which I get 50% off the 2nd cake I bought. So I paid for the price of 3 cakes for 4 haha. 

Bailey's misu. Their original version by twisting the tiramisu recipe by adding bailey liquor instead. It's the most expensive cake I bought, cost RM9.90. The taste was alright with sufficient generous amount of mascarpone cheese. However I don't like the container of the cake as I can't really dig out the cheese at the corners. 

Tiramisu. Again the container lol. However the taste was good. My bf complain about the chocolate powder on top as its v easy to get choked when eating. Maybe they can put little bit less of that. 

Strawberry cake. This is my favorite among 3 as the sponge cake is really soft with cream in between with strawberry chunks. I think they can put more strawberry chunks. The flower icing thing taste good too. 

The last cake I bought was Black Forest but it was eaten by my mum so can't comment on that really haha. My mum said it was good as it's not too sweet for her. 

That's all for the review and hopefully I get to visit PF soon as I'm really interested in the cheese burger they selling haha. Until next time :)

Crystal Flakes Pan Fried Dumpling

Today I'm gonna teach u all how to make special pan fried dumplings which has the shape of ice crystal flakes surrounding them.

This is an extremely simple dish which everyone can make at home. It takes about 10 minutes to get the dish done. I used the frozen dumpling bought from supermarket. You don't even have to defrost the dumplings so a lot of time can be saved. 

First step is to pour some oil in the pan and heat it up. Then switch to small fire and assemble the dumplings like a flower in the pan. It takes around 6 dumplings to make the shape. Stick one of the edge of the dumpling in the middle of the pan to form a circular shape. Then switch to medium fire and let the bottom of the dumpling to be fried until light golden colour. It should take around 1-2 minutes.

Then make a mixture of water and flour (or cornflour) with the ratio of 10:1. Pour the solution into the pan until half of the dumplings are soaked. Then cover the pan and let it boiled under small or medium fire. This process takes about 5 minutes. You can pour more solution and let it heat longer if you scare the dumplings will not be cooked. 

Lastly, open up the pan and see if the flour water is almost dried up with the golden crystal flake crisps on the pan. When the water is completely dried up, invertly pour the whole thing onto a plate. 

 

This should be how it looks like. The top layer is crispy with nicely steamed dumpling underneath. Overall a great success :)

Chocolate Flavoured Ice Cream

Ice cream for hot weather! Yes i made ice cream again lol. This time i tried the chocolate/milo flavour =)

Ingredients are as below:

3 Tablespoon of Milo
1 Tablespoon of Unsweetened chocolate powder
2.5 Tablespoon of Milk powder
1 Egg
Sugar optional (depends on how sweet you want it to be)

The process was as the previous recipe. Mix all the powder and add minimal amount of hot water that is just enough to cover the surface of the powder. Then mix it thoroughly before adding in the whisked egg. Then freeze it for an hour and take it out to stir it at medium speed. Repeat the stirring process every half an hour to get a smooth texture.

The result was good. The ice cream looks exactly like ice cream and the taste is very rich. I didn't add sugar as i like it to taste like dark chocolate flavour.

I guess next time i will try some other flavours since it's successful. Also, just want to emphasize that milk powder and egg are really the main components in making handmade ice cream.

Milk Ice Cream

Made another new batch of ice cream last night and ate it today haha. Didn't take any pic as it looks normal and i dun have the ice cream scope so can't do the ice cream shots haha. Anyway i change the recipe a bit as below:

5 Tablespoons of milk powder
1.5 Tablespoons of castered sugar
1 egg

So firstly is to add hot water to the milk powder and sugar to melt the powder. The water level should be as minimal as possible, just nice to cover up the powder. Then make sure the powder is melted and add in the whisked egg gradually while mixing. After the egg is fully integrated into the mixture, put it into the freezer. After an hour, take the mixture out to mix it again. As mentioned in previous ice cream post, the mixing process should be repeated as frequently as possible to produce smooth ice cream.

This time the ice cream taste richer with very strong milk taste. Also more creamy. During the mixing process, it kinda feel like watery dough texture, like gelato. I would say this time is more successful but some people might not like it as it is really milky. I guess i will try to make milo or chocolate icecream next time haha.

Gastric Acid Meds

Hello it's Medical Tuesday! Today I'm gonna talk about meds for gastric pain. There are few types of medicines for gastric pain, the main classes including Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI), H2 Antagonist (H2A) and antacids.

To easily differentiate them, PPI and H2A are mostly taken half an hour before food. Antacids are more effective when taken after food. Why?

PPI and H2A function by reducing the gastric acid production in the stomach, therefore they will stop the secretion of acids in the stomach. In result of that, when food is taken, the stomach will not produce too much acids which can result in gastric pain.

Antacids work by neutralizing the acids in the stomach. In this case, it will be more effective when gastric acids present. When food is taken, the stomach will secrete gastric acids to breakdown the food. So after eating, there will be more gastric acid compared to before eating. As a result of that, antacids will neutralize more acids when taken after food, in another word it will be more effective.

Antacids also have a few cautions to look for:

1) There are Magnesium based and Calcium based solution. Magnesium based antacid can cause diarrhoea while Calcium based antacid can cause constipation. Therefore the side effects will differ quite widely depends on the formulation of the antacids.

2) People with high blood pressure will need to be cautious about the content of the antacids. It will be better if you do not take antacids with Sodium content as it will cause the blood pressure to raise.

Lastly, some other medications can also cause overproduction of gastric acid therefore consult a doctor or pharmacist when you are not sure about the reason why, e.g. NSAIDS.

The Following

Am gonna talk about a tv series today as i don't think i'll have time to do so tomorrow.

The tv series i'm introducing today is The Following. Ya, pretty dark and violent drama again lol.

The story is about how a serial killer manages to manipulates other people and make them do things including killings for him even when he's in jail. The main protagonist is a ex-FBI agent who caught the serial killer and put him into the jail. Very organised and structured drama, lots of good actings. I would say it can become the next best thriller drama tv series.

Although it only has one season now, the 2nd season is already in plan and gonna be released next year i think. I'm now at the episode 8 season 1 and is totally drawn into the plot and amazed by how detailed and brilliant the serial killer is. Well, he obviously has no empathy for people and is so good at giving people what they want, which makes him a total psychopath. A charismatic one.

I think they did a good job in recruiting the actors and actresses. They are all great for their characters and performed amazingly, especially the killer.

The story makes me think about how a religion can affect someone and the belief in the wrong thing can be deathly. Oh well, i can't really judge people in what they believe in but i have to say the followers of the killer definitely put in lots of faith in him to treat him as a god.

Cool drama but i guess it's for 18 and above since it's quite violent.

Puppy Adoption

Sorry for the late updates. I hope i can do some fashion post soon after i go shopping on Friday =)

As for today, there's not much happening around therefore i didn't know what i should talk about.

Well what i'm trying to do recently is to get a puppy to accompany me at home. Have been searching for quite some time through my neighbours, and my mum's social network (well i'm not exactly sure if she knows what i'm looking for, but she offer to help so i guess i can only hope for some nice surprise). And of cos, i look through the dog adoption website, in particular petfinder.my. It's a great website as they have lots of advert on available dogs for sale or adoption.

Well i'm not very into buying a puppy so i just look at the adoption adverts. Still kinda hard to find the puppy i like as i'm more into small breed and possibly bright colour. Most of the adverts are big dogs, the one you can see at the roadside. Those are kinda hard to be trained as they have already fully grown into adult dogs. I guess it will not be the best choice for me as i'm still a learner. Therefore a puppy will be great as it can be trained from small which is easier.

Searching process continue and i hope i can find the puppy i want soon =)

Painkillers

Well, after a few thoughts, i decided to talk about medicines on Tuesday, which are something i am more familiar with. Also, it might help me to refresh my memory on the stuff i learnt in school. I guess i can treat it as a revision session haha.

Anyway, i'm gonna talk about painkillers today, which is one of the Top 10 medicines people buy in pharmacies. There are many types of painkillers available, including the well known Paracetamol and NSAIDs (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs).

Paracetamol is more known as Panadol, which is actually it's brand name. It's like laptop, you have Acer, HP, Toshiba etc while Paracetamol, you have Panadol and a lot of other brands. Well, i normally tell the customers that they all do the same thing because they are the same medicine, just with different names produced by different pharmaceutical companies. This applies to most of the other medicines. Some medicines are extremely pricey because of the fact that it is imported from overseas, however you can actually get a relatively cheaper version that is produced locally. They are generally the same medicines. If the brands do make a difference, they will specify it. But for most of the over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, the brands just indicate the companies that produced them.

NSAIDs on the other hand, is a class of medicine. And a lot of medicines are under this class, including Ibuprofen, Naproxen, Mefenamic acid, Diclofenac Sodium/Potassium etc. They are all painkillers. However, there are some differences in effect among these medicines. In this case, the doctor might give you different types of painkillers according to your situations.

Today, i'm gonna tell you guys how to choose between painkillers at different situations.

Situation 1: You had a cold and is having muscle ache. 
Paracetamol is probably the first choice as you might have a fever as well. As most people might know, paracetamol is very effective in fever. Well actually, i would say that Paracetamol is mainly for fever rather than pain. However, due to the lesser side effects, people normally use it first and only look for other options when it doesn't work.

Situation 2: You have tooth ache. Your gum is red and inflammed.
In this situation, we will say that your gum is having a inflammatory reaction. Probably due to the growth of wisdom tooth if you are a teenager. The inflammatory reaction includes 3 main symptoms: RED, PAIN, SWOLLEN (RPS). In this case, NSAIDs will be more useful as it will help to reduce the inflammation therefore resolving the pain. I myself used to take Ibuprofen and it takes about 1-2 hours for the effect to kick in. Very effective.

Situation 3: You have a gastric pain.
Ok, this is one of the situation that you DO NOT take painkillers especially the NSAIDs class. The reason that you have gastric pain is normally because you skip your regular meals or you have gastric problem in the past. In this case, you have too much gastric acid in your stomach that irritates the lining of the stomach. So you will need something to neutralize the acid or reduce the production of the acid. Neither paracetamol nor NSAIDs help. You will need something like Antacids or PPIs or H2 Antagonist which i will discuss other time. The point here is that you should not take painkillers as they will not help and might even exaggerate the pain.

The main counselling points for both medicines are summarized as below:

Paracetamol
1. Take 2 tablets (each 500mg) every 4-6 hours for adult. Do not take more than 8 tablets (4 grams) a day.

It is very important to not exceed the amount taken a day as paracetamol is metabolised in the liver. And as some of you might know, overdose can cause liver problem even death.

2. Take it only when you have fever or mild to moderate pain.

3. Do not take the medicines if you have history of allergy to this medicine.

This is important as well. Allergy can be life-threatening. Watch out for any swollen lips or eyes, rashes, itchiness, breathing difficulties etc after taking the medicines if you have never take it before.

4. Consult the doctor/pharmacist if you have other medical condition or is currently taking other medicines such as Warfarin.

This is to prevent the incidents of drug interactions.

NSAIDs
1. Take it AFTER food and do not take more than directed.

This is because NSAIDs can cause gastric irritation which is commonly known as gastric pain. As all the medicines, overdose can make the medicine becomes poison which is a serious medical issue.

2. Take the medicines only when necessary for moderate to strong pain.

3. Do not take the medicines if you have allergy to any drugs from NSAIDs class. Consult a doctor/pharmacist if you are not sure.

4. Do not take the medicines if you have gastric, kidney or heart problem. Also consult a doctor/pharmacist if you are taking any other medicines, including Aspirin, warfarin and even some of the supplements which help with blood flow.

This is a crucial point for people who want to get NSAIDs medicine. I have explained about the relationship between gastric problem and the drug. As for the kidney problem, NSAIDs are cleared by kidney which means if your kidney is not functioning well, the medicines will accummulate in the body which will cause serious problem. 

Also some of the NSAIDs they are marketed as Selective COX-2 inhibitor, e.g. Celecoxib and Etoricoxib, which claims they have minimal gastric side effects. That is actually reasonable as they selectively not acting on the receptor that is responsible for the gastric effect. However, studies have shown that this type of NSAIDs might induce heart attack or stroke in people who have heart problem. Therefore consultation with the doctor or pharmacist is very crucial to avoid using Celecoxib or other similar medicines in people who have heart problem.

Wow, this is totally like writing for an assignment even though i just briefly introduce the medicines. I think this is the longest post i have ever written haha. Anyway hope you guys find it helpful and please do leave comments if you need any clarification or other informations =)

Honey Flavoured Ice Cream

New week, new month, 2nd half of the year! Time flies isn't it? It's half way through year 2013 and we are still alive =) I guess it won't be end of the world anytime soon. Well, that's what i hope anyway haha.

Today, i'm gonna talk about the handmade ice cream i did last week. The reason i made it is because i need ice cream to eat with my chocolate mousse. As you know the mousse is super rich so i can't really just eat the mousse alone.

Anyway, i use Honey as my flavouring agent. The recipe is as below:

4 Tablespoon milk powder
~150mL of full cream milk (3/4 ramen bowl)
1 Tablespoon honey

So, i boil the milk and add milk powder. Stir until fully mixed and lastly add in the honey. Then, what you need to do is cool down the mixture for a while and put into freezer. After about 2-3 hours, check out the mixture. It should be frozen halfway. Now what i did was i stir it and whisk it until fluffy. Like how you make whipped cream. As from what i understand, ice cream means frozen cream, with extra creamy taste. So, that's what i did. After that, put back into the fridge and do the same thing in about half and hour or 1 hour. It will be smoother if you can stir the mixture as frequent as possible until it is completely frozen. This is to mimic the process in ice cream machine. What they did is they continually stir the mixture until it becomes ice cream.

It tasted great but i think i can improve the recipe by adding in more milk powder. That can make the ice cream more milky and rich. As i only stir for 2 times for this batch, it is still a little bit rough and not smooth enough. But the texture is alright.

Well hope i can make a better batch next time =)

Dexter

It's Friday!

Saw lots of my coursemates posting how scared and nervous they are for the pre-registration exam in UK today, makes me feel depressed. Well, obviously it's because i still waiting for the pre-reg training in Malaysia and they are already 80% done with theirs. How irony, i was like the top student in my class but end up so much slower in progress in being a registered pharmacist. This lesson teaches me that top student is definitely not everything. It's more about attitude and character of a person rather than the results he can get. But well, at least i know it now and i know what i want. Rather than struggling in a high pressure oven, i choose to slow down my pace and think about what i want really. I guess it was still a good call. Thank god i skipped class, so that i have this extra time to think.

Well, today, i'm gonna introduce a rather violent US series, Dexter.

It's one of my favourite detective/police drama apart from Criminal Minds. And yes i hate CSI and NCIS. Dexter is about a guy who works in Police department as a forensic guy focusing on blood spatter. Aside from his routine job, he is also a serial killer that takes down other serial killers. The drama is about how he balances his life between being a normal person and a serial killer and how struggling sometimes it can be.

There are 7 seasons to date and the 8th season, which is also the finale season will start airing on 30th June, this Sunday =) So excited that it is gonna start again but on the other hand it's kinda sad to know it's the last season already. It's like House MD, i was so into that drama and suddenly it ends. I guess things are better off if you end it when it's great. Rather than making some shitty episodes, they choose to end it before the reputation gets bad. Wise.

The legacy of Dexter! People that are killed by Dexter and these are not all. Particularly love the interaction between him and the Trinity killer. On the other hand, love the actor playing Dexter's son, Harrison. He's such a cutie pie!

Not gonna do any spoilers, but if you love serial killers and don't mind to see lots of blood and other disgusting violent stuff, please do try watching this series.

Diarrhea attack

Sorry people, no updates for today as I'm having diarrhea suspectly from last night's supper or whatever. Talk to you guys tomorrow!

Little Bit Of My Life

Finally it's raining this week! Hope the rain will wash away the haze and give us a nice clean environment again. Also saw the news that Indonesia finally apologize to Malaysia and SG for the worst haze situation to date. Well, good news i guess.

Was making some ice cream to eat with my chocolate mousse last night and it's quite a success. Can't wait to share with you next Monday =)

Recently i am reorganising my laptop stuff and found out i have some half-written stories and a series of short articles in my folder. Would love to share it here but it's in chinese. Trying to continue with the writing process and when it's time i will share it here =) I guess i still write better in chinese rather than in english lol.

Not much to write today as I haven't done anything special except visiting my grandma in the hospital. Not gonna talk about the hospital stuff as it's very frustrating and disappointing most of the time. And that including all the illegal parking in the parking areas, ward conditions and everything. I guess that's what they can offer in government hospital when patient's bill is heavily subsidized. Compared to Singapore General Hospital, SGH is like a 5 star hotel with lots of staffs and advanced hardware.

Well that's all for today and see ya tomorrow =)

FOB Saving Rock & Roll!

Sorry guys, pretty busy this week as my grandma is in the hospital due to some bone fracture from a fall. Have to be the driver and send my mum to and fro hospital. Not too bad actually cos i get to fast and furious on the road haha.

Anyway, the haze situation is kinda getting better now so hope you guys are well and have your face masks prepared. I am quite surprise to see not a lot people wearing mask around the hospital area. Maybe they are all smokers lol. The hospital is very near to the sea so the smoke is more concentrated around that area. Well i wear my mask.

So, no DIY today. Just gonna share with you guys a great news! I just found out that Fall Out Boy will be in Singapore for the Save Rock & Roll world tour! So freaking excited right? Omg FOB is like the coolest band ever, and their new album rocks! Pardon me for all the exclamation marks haha. Too excited =D I'm so gonna go to their concert in August, hope i can get someone to go with me. So they can record the videos while i scream my lungs out haha. Too bad my concert buddy not around and i can't share my joy with her. But anyway, i'm so looking forward for them to be in Singapore!

Ok that's all for the day. Gonna get the tickets fast =)

Chocolate Molten Cake

Fresh from the oven people! Just made the chocolate molten cake and here I am sharing with you guys how I made it :)

Anyway I used the recipe from bbc good food but varied a little based on the ingredients I had at home. Also i prefer less sweet so i reduce the amount of sugar and substitute with cocoa powder. So I will share my recipe here:

50g butter

50g cooking chocolate 

2 medium eggs

40g sugar

25-30g unsweetened cocoa powder

20g all purpose flour

The steps were same as the recipe. Melt and mix the butter and chocolate. Then mix with other ingredient until smooth. Be careful not to cook the eggs so i add the sugar with eggs and other ingredient before mixing with the hot mixture. Then before the chocolate start to solidify, equally pour the mixture into ramekins or other oven proof material. I would suggest to use baking paper to line the container so that it won't stick. Alternatively you can spread some butter in the container. Oven at 200 degree Celsius for 10 minutes in my case. Then just invertly push out the cake onto a plate. Serve with whipped cream will be heaven!

If you want something from fridge you can also put the mixture into the fridge and make chocolate mousse instead. Which is equally nice. 

 

 This is the chocolate mousse. Smooth and thick, the way I like it.

Da-dang!! Chocolate molten cake. Look just like the way I want it. Liquid chocolate bursting out from inside. Coolest successful dessert I baked to date haha.

Hope you guys like it:)

Man Of Steel

Despite the worsening of the haze which reached PSI 401 today at extremely hazardous level, I guess you guys still deserve a little bit of entertainment. I guess watching movie in a cinema will be relatively safer.

Movie of the week - Man of Steel!

Well as most people already know, it's actually Superman movie. It's like Batman, they called him the dark knight, and now Superman is man of steel. I think it's actually quite cool. And everything he does make sense in the movie. I think Nolan did a good job again after batman series. He is always able to turn a story into his own and make it interesting to watch.

It's actually quite fun to interpret some of the superman's move. He was not flying, he just experience a relatively weak gravity force compared to his own planet therefore the force used to jump is relatively greater. I believe he jumps normally in his own planet haha. Everyone is superman in his hometown lol. His suit is actually cooler in this movie.

Find the movie v touching especially at the front part where his parents have to send him to earth. And in the end part, i actually find the bad guy kinda sad. He is not exactly evil, he's just raised to protect his people and it was his responsibility to find a new place for his people. That was his designated destiny. Like many of us, we are controlled by a lot of things most of the time and are raised to be certain type of people. It's not like some people are bad, it's just the way we are raised is different. We are all good in the beginning of life. I believe this movie sends this message very clearly, which is a success.

Well in conclusion, i find it to be a great superhero movie. It makes people think. Kinda like The Dark Knight with Joker as the bad guy. Less of a commercial movie compared to Avengers or Ironman.

5 Tips For Fighting Haze

The haze is STILL killing me! And it's getting worse and worse and worse. It's like the trading market, you won't know when will be the maximum point. Damn.

So to be a caring blogger, i would like to give a few tips on coping with this crazy haze.

1. Wear a mask!
Get a box of facemasks and wear it everyday when you need to go out. You might think it is not really necessary, but the masks will help to filter the polluted air you breathe in therefore less smokes get into your airways and lungs. For people who are more cautious, get a better mask to get better filtration.

2. Drink as much water as you can!
The smokes will irritate your throat and therefore causing inflammation which results in sore throat. Water can help to wash and hydrate your throat to prevent sore throat. Imagine you now have smokes everywhere in your throat, drinking water will help to flush down the smoke particles and clean your throat.

3. Stay indoor!
Well, this is common sense. Stay indoor and on your fan to make sure there is good airflow in the house/room. It is important to have good airflow. The smoke particles will still get in no matter how secure your house is, therefore good airflow will help to prevent the smoke from accummulating in a certain place.

4. Keep clean!
A good hygiene will help to prevent falling sick especially at this point when the air you breathing is not clean. Hand washings are extremely important. As your body is busy fighting with the haze, you need keep good hygiene so that bacteria or viruses have no chance to attack your body.

5. Protect your lungs!
Little bit of biology lesson here. The lungs are responsible in the gases exchange for the body, i.e. take in Oxygen and throw out Carbon Dioxide and other waste products. So in this case, when we inhale in the polluted air, the lungs will need to work harder than usual to filter the air. Therefore your lungs are very important to keep you healthy. What you can do is to practise point 1 to 4 and stay healthy. For people who smokes, the haze will burden your lungs further more so do try to reduce the amount of smoking.

These 5 points are the basic things that you should do during this crazy haze period. Hope you guys find it helpful =)

When Toasts Meet Milk

Ok first of all, the haze is killing me. My house is like a big oven with smokes smell here and there and everywhere. My respiratory system is dying! I wonder when will this annual event of forest fire be stopped cos everyone in the countries affected are getting sick. Such terrible polluted air.

Anyway, i was actually in the mood of making some scones just now but i couldn't do it because i dun have enough butter/margarine at home. This sucks! Anyway, will try to get some soon or i'll just bake something which use oil instead of the butter. I wonder if frozen oil can be used hmm. Will let you guys know when i try haha.

Today, i'm sharing with you my pleasant surprise last night when i was hunting for supper. Wasn't so hungry to eat instant noodle so i look for biscuits/ bread. Anyway, i toasted 2 piece of breads and start looking for the chicken floss but apparently it was finished already. So i was so disappointed as i already pour a glass of milk to pair with my toasts. Since i have no butter at home too, i thought, maybe dipping the toast into the milk can be nice. Like how people dip oreo biscuits into milk right.

It was fantastic! As the bread was toasted to become crunchy, it kinda tastes like newly baked pastry. And because all the water was gone during the heating process, the milk easily bind with the toast and therefore it's crunchy and juicy. Unlike biscuits, bread structure is much hollow so it was very easy to absorb the milk, within seconds. I finish my toasts so quickly and by the time i finish, my milk was half glass gone already.

Well, this might not apply to low fat milk as what you need is a good glass of milk to spice up the toasts. However, chocolate or strawberry flavoured milk might be able to work. I dunno haha.

Job Job Job

Oh well, i find myself to be less creative recently as i haven't done any DIY project for a while. Was busy calling the pharmacy to get my training application proceeded. I dunno if it's because they have no intention to get a trainee or they just like to do things at their own pace. Been calling for hundreds of time to get their attention on my resume. Not sure if it's the right thing to do but i am really desperate to get the job. Was looking at my bank acc and realize i definitely need to get a job asap.

Wanted to get a part time job but my dad thinks i should just wait for the training offer. I dunno if he's being too nice or want me to focus on the job i should be doing. But really, staying at home doing nothing is as bad. During this whole jobless period, i really think that a companion would be great, a dog or a person i dun care.

At the end of everyday when i lie on the bed waiting to fall asleep, i feel so nervous that i have not worked for quite some time. And this is when the depression kicks in. Making me stress and everything. Well, i think i might be stress on another reason when i start working. But now, it's the stress that everybody is moving constantly on their life path and i still standing here halfway waiting for a fresh start.

Oh please let me at least get the job offer and have something to look forward to.

Weekend Getaway: Mio Boutique Hotel

So sorry for the late post! Was having a movie date with my bf who took a day off today =) Definitely gonna talk about Man of Steel this coming Friday!

I know i have been doing other things and haven't get any baking done for quite some time, and i still haven't baked anything during the weekend as i was in Malacca attending the celebration for the 100th anniversary of my high school. So, still no baking today but i hope i can bake something anything this week so i can write a post on baking next week =) Please do forgive me!

As a compensation, i will recommend a hotel for you guys if you are gonna travel to Malacca for a weekend getaway or even a whole week getaway. It's a very new hotel so the quality is quite guaranteed.

The hotel is called Mio Boutique Hotel located at Bunga Raya area where you have the Little India and the old streets around. Also the famous Jonker Walk is very near to that area so basically it is located in the centre of the tourist attraction area. This makes it very convenient to just walk around without having to get a cab or other public transportation to visit the famous tourist attraction. Especially at night, you can easily have a casual walk around.

However, if you have a car, you might face some traffic jams when you try to reach the place. As all the Malaccans know, the traffic at Bunga Raya area can be very very bad. You might literally stuck in the middle of the traffic for ages. Therefore, you have to weigh the pros and cons before deciding which area you want to stay at.

The check in procedure was very quick. You get a electronic key card as well as the breakfast voucher. The wifi password is provided too. The only downside would be, there is only 1 lift. So i imagine if there is a huge crowd you might need to wait for the lift. Luckily there is only 4 floors so if you don't mind a little bit of cardio session, climbing the stairs can be healthy and convenient.

We was allocated at a corner room which has a longer hallway at the entrance of our room. Looks pretty much like a home haha. Slippers with their hotel name were provided. It was actually quite nice as there were a pair of small size slippers and a pair of bigger size slippers. I'm not sure if it's the same for every room but i find their attention to details is quite impressive.

After the hallway when we turn left, we'll see the bed and everything including a big plasma tv and the kitchenette corner. The mirror is in black which is quite cool as we can see ourselves in it very clearly but not having sharp reflection of the lights from the opposite direction. As for the tv, there are 11 channels including the Malaysia's channels as well as HBO and cartoon network. TVBS channel is also provided.

And this is the mirror at the table. As you can see there are 2 plugs for charging phones and stuff. The kitchenette area is supplied with coffee, tea and milo as well as 2 bottles of water. The glasses, cups and stuff were keep in the drawer but can be see through via the glass table surface. The small fridge is hidden in the cupboard below.

King size bed with a movable lamp at the side. There is also place for me to put stuff like a phone at the window side. The bed and duvet were extremely comfy. There were 3 types of towel provided for bathing, washing face and drying hands. Also air conditioner is functioning very well. 

Basin area. Hair dryer is great with warm strong wind. There are 2 levels of wind that you can select from. Toothbrushes, comb and shower caps were provided as well.

A big shower head and a portable shower head were provided. The shampoos and soaps were hidden at the rectangular "hole" at the right side of the shower area, which is great as they were put on a 2-level glass surface instead of a crowded small area in other budget hotels. The only drawback is that when you shower, you need to put a towel to prevent the water from splashing out as there is no door to separate the shower area with the toilet area. However, if you don't mind, you can actually open the wooden door and use it as a separator haha.

And this is all that i can introduce for this newly opened hotel. They sell instant noodle at the counter too but it's way too expensive. And as for the breakfast, it's quite below average if u compare with all the nice good food you can find in Malacca. 

In conclusion, it's a nice hotel to stay as the facilities in the rooms are great but when it comes to food, I would say you might want to eat somewhere else unless you are so damn hungry. 

For the price I paid, I would like to say it's very worthy. However I dunno if they will increase the price in the future or not. I book the rooms via Agoda and according to the website they are having special promotion that's why I get cheaper rooms. But who knows if it's a real promotion or they just want to attract people haha. 

Oh and nearly forgot, they have quite a number of parking spaces in front of the hotel so I guess it's not a problem. 

That's all for today and hope you guys find it helpful :)

Kazoku Game (The Family Game)

Look how fast time can pass, it's Friday already! Or some people might say, finally it's Friday.

One last Japanese drama to introduce for this season, and the season is almost over as most of the dramas have now reached the finale ep or 2nd last ep. The drama i'm introducing today is a very intense family drama. At first i wasn't sure if i like it or not, but after watching it for all this while, i guess it is a good drama. It teaches us a lot of things, tell us how important it is to take responsibilities and how important it is to care about people around you.

Kazoku Game. Or translated in english as The Family Game.

It is a story of a family which looks very glamorous and peaceful in other people's eyes. But the family is not happy with the youngest son as he has very bad results at school and reluctant to go to school. So one day they hire a tuition teacher to help with the study of the youngest son. This story is about how a tuition teacher can turn the family upside down and force them to realize the family is not as perfect as they think.

The actor playing the tuition teacher is from my favourite Japanese boy group Arashi. Sakurai Sho has shown his potential in acting since his leading role in The Quiz Show 2. He plays the psychotic role so well. I find him to be the smartest guy in Arashi as he not only take initiative in being the hosts in their shows and is also a news reporter. He has the most variety of jobs among the other members of Arashi i would say.

Another great actor in this drama would be Kamiki Ryunosuke, who act as the big brother in the family, who is smart but don't believe in anyone else including his family. This kid is totally a diamond in acting. He is good in almost every roles that he played in and always make a great impression to people regardless he is the lead character or a special guest for just one episode.

Well, that's all that i will say and hope you guys will watch the drama and maybe learn something from it. It is a great drama to be watched and also think about ourselves and our life after watching.

Bamboo Fibre Towel

Ok. So today i'm going to talk about a souvenir my mum brought back from her trip. I'm not sure if that's an appropriate souvenir to buy from China but it is quite good in its job anyway.

And here it is, the bamboo fibre towel for hair.

It's actually quite convenient as it has a certain shape so you just have to wrap the towel around ur head and tuck in all your hair, then twist the towel in front as directed. Then pull the twisted part to the back of the head and tie it with the button provided.

What the bamboo fibre will do is it will absorb the water in the hair as quick as possible, after around 10-15 minutes, my hair is around 80% dry already. It has a similar effect as what a hairdryer can do. Therefore, it is a healthier way to dry the hair as overheating the hair with dryer can make the hair looks dry and easy to break.

However, this is just for normal day hair drying process lol. If you want to style your hair nicely, a dryer will probably do a better job, especially if your hair is very easily shaped and very hard to de-shaped like mine. Therefore, i still love my dryer, i usually blow my hair with the medium hot air follow by the cool air, which is very enjoying haha.

Anyway, i believe this is not a new product but anyone who haven't tried it can think about it =) If you don't like to use the dryer and think the natural drying process is too slow.

EXTRA: Update Review Of Galileo 2

Watching Ep 09 and finally realized they actually did the story in the book again! I have to say the 2 eps that follow the book story is so much more interesting =) Both involved another scientist as the killer which were kinda cool.

Also Ep 08 is quite good too. Mainly the acting performance of the killer.

Oh and i just google the series and realize the last ep, which is Ep 10 will be the most interesting story! Read the novel and found that story really good. Although the trick revealed is not much of a physic stuff.

Colour Colour Colour!

Fashion Wednesday is back!

Well, as a matter of fact, i just want to share with you guys the new clothes i've gotten recently and how i plan to style them.

I've gotten a skirt and a sleeveless jacket from ASOS, and the top from SEEDS has been slightly mentioned in the SS post.

The skirt is the main point here. As i don't usually get pieces with many colours, i would like to keep it as simple as possible. So, a one shoulder white top from H&M will be sufficient. Also the belt is to cover up the edge of the skirt to make it look like a one piece dress. A thicker belt will have a better effect though.

The detail of the skirt. It has lots of cars on top lol. I find it interesting and funny which is why i get the skirt. Also the material is very light. Soft and silky. With this youthful skirt, i would suggest to pair with ballerina flats or other flats. What i'll go for is a beach look or youthful look.

Next, the sleeveless jacket. Very flowery. Therefore same rules apply. Simple pieces to go with it. This time i choose a dark colour tank top to emphasize the jacket, plus a yellow shorts which will make the whole look lively =) The belt is the same belt i showed for the skirt. This is a huge step forward for me in buying clothes. Never bought anything flowery before except for shoes. Anyway, a high-ankle sneakers will be great with this outfit. Sporty and lively look.

Close up for the jacket. The material is jeans fabric which makes the jacket shapes nicely especially on the collar when i wear it. High quality stuff. I would imagine a maxi skirt in black will create a nice rock/punk look with this jacket on the street.

Last piece, the top i got from the 70% sales in Malacca. Stripes is the new trend this summer, i guess i hit the jackpot buying this top haha. Like it mainly because of the assymetric look. Also find it interesting to combine two different stripes in one top. This would be a nice casual top which is ridiculously cheap. Cost me 10 over ringgit.

That's all for today. Hope you guys enjoy my amateur fashion talk hahaha.

DIY Recycle Vase

I promise u guys I will update a new post on DIY stuff and here I am, keeping the promise!

I made a recycle vase just minutes ago and I will share the experience with you right now. The ingredients needed are common household waste, plastic pet bottles. 

Big or small, size doesn't matter. And the tools required including candle, and scissors. Easy right?

First, find a ventilated place to conduct the project as inhaling the gas produced by the pet bottle while being heated is extremely unhealthy. 

Cut the top of the bottle out. You can use the top for other purposes as what I need here is only the body and bottom of the bottle. 

Light the candle and start the heating process. Be careful not to let the bottle in contact with the fire as that will make the bottle burnt in black colour. You will see the bottle slowly shrink in irregular shape as it approaches the fire. You can create a bubbly surface by heating it a little bit longer. However, please be careful not to heat a certain area for too long as that will create a hole. 

That is the finished product of mine. I splash a bit of the candle wax on top to create an artistic design. 

Put the water inside and here you have an elegant and sophisticated looking vase. You can also paint some colour on the bottle to create your own design. 

Howp you guys like it :)

Bravoooooo

Hello people! I am back from Singapore =) Hope you guys read the previous post i wrote on my anniversary dinner at One Rochester as i updated that post using the blogger phone app. That was quite cool actually, kinda like the same as using the laptop but with autocorrect and smaller screen lol.

Anyway, I'm definitely not gonna talk about baking today as i didn't do any in SG other than eating the Tiramisu made by my bf's sister. It was actually very nice except that the mascarpone layer was not thick enough lol. Sorry for being such a creamy/milky-stuff addict haha.

Well, during the time i was in SG, i enjoy the company of my favourite dog, Bravo. And i took tons of picture of him while i was babysitting him haha. I guess i can show you guys the pictures i took =)

For your information, although he looks like a puppy, he is already 11-12 years old. Converting to human age, he is an old old dog so very very fragile. His legs are not as strong as before and he loves lying around and sleep no matter what time it is.

The happy cute face.

Tired and emo face.

Happy and want-you-to-feed-him face.

 Afternoon power nap.

After the haircut, nice big round eyes and the cute nose.

Acting blur when i took pic with him lol.

Mary had a little lamb~

Sleeping rat.

The bear-y happy look when i hug him haha.

Hope you guys enjoy the pictures =)