BerryLicious

I used to do lotsa baking at home a long long long time ago... 
before I took a 60-hours-per-week crazy full time position.

Nowadays I hardly have any time left to relax; not even on my day off; so let alone baking.
The only time when I well and truly make an effort to bake is when someone's birthday is coming close. That will be when I suddenly feel a strong urge to bake again.

The weekend just gone was double delight because both my dad's and mum-in-law's birthdays fell on the same weekend (only 2 days apart!). So that gave me one sweet chance to salvage and re-explore my interest in baking again.

Well... in fact I didn't even need to touch the oven this time, because mum-in-law loves cheesecake, so I decided to make her one with loads of dazzling berries on it. 

The biscuit base at the bottom is no ordinary either. I added a generous amount of pounded macadamia nuts in it before covered with a creamy layer of vanilla-flavoured filling and luscious strawberry swirl. I could have easily used more berries or even add another layer of gelatine on top of it. But I am not a strong believer in complication =)

The cheesecake turned out to be very nice <--- this is what my father-in-law said!

The biscuit base is not too thick and the sweetness is just perfect. 

I can't be any happier than this! 

On the same evening, mum's son (aka my husband-to-be) treated the whole family to Hog's Breath.

It was packed with people. So many tables were celebrating birthdays as well (what a coincidence!).

The menu seems to have more varieties and better options since our last visit. Lobster is in the season now, and with such a good value in place, how can we miss that, right?

I had such a yummy weekend feeding in so much calories OMG! 

I hope you had a wonderful weekend too!

This wednesday I will be attending an official beauty treatment by Clarins (yes again!).

I am already all ecstatic about it - hopefully I will be able to share some experience soon.

So until then, sweet dreams everyone~

欲

有欲望，不代表你虚荣。喜欢名牌，不代表你虚伪。
有品味，不代表你肤浅。追求浮华，不代表你浮夸。

正如打扮性感，不代表你淫荡，
减体重，不代表减肥成功一样。
有合理的欲望，才有不断前进的动力。
生活讲究品味，才有追求完美的坚持。

每个人都有各个层次的欲望，但不是每个人都有品味去挖掘更细致的生活。
每个人的价值观点都不一样，就算全世界都话你虚荣、虚伪、肤浅、浮夸，
全世界又不是每个人都有taste屎去欣赏你，我们又何必太介意人家的说话呢？

文：mia

爱上帅哥

五年前有一段时间，我悄悄喜欢上了一个男生。

可是喜欢的时候，我却感觉有一点怕。因为这个男生是半个鬼佬，我怕我们背景会有冲突。
怕喜欢上了又得不到，得不到了我又会很伤心，说放弃又不是，想进攻又不行，总之很烦就是了。

唉⋯⋯ 真是难搞女人一个。

还好忐忑不安的也不只我一人。

若能早知你的心意，当初我也就不必每一早都带着两只熊猫眼上班了。

Present for Aoki-san

It was another full house night again. The restaurant was packed with people!

As usual, we sat at the sushi bar and watched Aoki-san bustling about the bar area all night.
We have long thought about buying a present for Aoki-san I am so glad we finally did today!
Just at that instant when we handed the present to Aoki-san I could see just how happy he was.
For all the great food and extra effort he puts in we value him really highly as a chef as well as a friend.

We knew from the start that Aoki-san spends a great deal of his time at the sushi bar. 

It is only a small little area but he keeps the area fun with indoor plants and origami on the counter.

We realised during one of our visits that his avocado shoot was being removed from the bar because the indoor room temperature was too cold to support its growth. So we thought we should get him a new plant to keep him company. But we got him a cactus instead!

Aoki-san immediately wanted us to put our names down at the back of the card, so he can remember us forever. In return of favour, he made us yet another great sushi special which we promptly devoured later. 

Check out this spiky beauty up close.  

I have always enjoyed taking pictures using the micro mode function.

This cactus may produce pink blossoms again next year! We shall see =)

We learnt a new word today. Cactus is called Saboten in Japanese =)

Sushi Master Aoki-san

We frequent this restaurant so regularly we knew where to head straight to as soon as we arrived.

Sushi bar is barely one tenth the size of the restaurant but it is a much cosier spot to sit at while enjoying our private session with chef Aoki-san. He is probably the best sushi chef we have come across with so far. It is a privilege to be able to order sushi directly from him, to learn something from him and to see him in action up close. 

Aoki-san knew I like to blog about food so he generously offered a sweet chance for me to snap some pictures of him slicing up the 8 kilo Tasmanian salmon for later use in preparing sushi. It is truly an eye-opening experience!

Well apparently there are many types/grades of salmon - one ocean differs to another - male and female are tagged with different prices. The process of deboning and slicing the salmon requires a real skill and an incredibly sharp knife. A good quality natural sharpening stone from Japan can sometimes cost up to a million dollar (but people tend to use it for samurai swords instead of cooking knives).

The sushi presentation reflects the innovative side of Aoki-san. The selection of raw fishes (sashimi) may differ depending on what are available on the market in that particular season. 

The traditional way of kick starting a sushi feast always commences from raw fishes; then proceed with the stronger-flavoured cooked items (such as unagi). Pickled ginger is there to cleanse your taste buds if needed. I had this strong rejection to wasabi a long long time ago but now I have grown into loving it!

At dinner tonight, Aoki-san surprised us with his own originality - cabbage maki roll with tuna, plum (umeboshi), cucumber and sesame seeds. Call me stupid but I just liked the way he said "my pleasure" as he served it to us. It was such a privilege. Anyone sitting at vicinity probably were quite envious of us.

Some other classic dishes we ordered tonight - dobin mushi (teapot soup), soramame (broad beans) and mozuku (seaweed in vinegar).

 

The broad beans are supposed to be Aoki-san's favourite dish.

They are nicely boiled and grilled to flavour. Alex likes this dish a lot too.

Personally I prefer mozuku the seaweed dish...

Japanese food has so much depth and history behind it.

It is probably one of the best cuisines all around the world other than Chinese food.

(Surprisingly living in a Western country I don't fancy eating Western food at all!)

Humble Gifts

I think I have been very lucky. I have been blessed with:

A lifetime profession which allows me to provide and help others endlessly.

A profession which allows me to achieve ultimate peace and serenity at the end of my lifetime.

I stumbled upon a young lady who was so depressed and on the verge of quitting her life but today she returned to thank me for my tiny little - almost worthless words of support and encouragement that has made a major turning point in her life. I gasped in surprise. 

It led me to believe - that money may not necessarily be the best return from your hard work.

A word of thanks is the humblest gift from the patients. And that is all we need.

We see many patients from all sorts of backgrounds everyday. Some as young as a a few days old.

Some are very elderly and in need of palliative care. Some come in for a tiny piece of reassurance.

Some come in purely as a time-waster. Some come in for a real emergency attention. Which ever case it is, I am proud to be able to help. I am sure Alex feels the same way too.

Some patients may earn only peanuts and live on very little savings.
These five freshly laid eggs from yesterday are "generous" gifts from one of Alex's patients.

Two of my patients have their own orchids and they made me mulberry pie from their fresh produce.

I have never tasted such a beautiful pie in a long while. And mulberry is really rare and expensive too.

Sometimes patients also make me sushi and handmade radish cake for lunch. It was very thoughtful of them but often I have to kindly refuse the generous offer as it compromises my work ethics.

My job requires a lot of commitment yet it may be the most rewarding job in my lifetime.

There are so many individual story and situation I have dealt with in the past four years. From small to big, they all have been very meaningful to me. Just imagine how wonderful it is to see a healthy toddler who had been failed to thrive for almost two years but has now returned to give you a cuddle and hi-5 as a mean of saying thank you. The feeling is incredible and magical.

I have learnt so much from them and I hope I can continue to learn.

Take pride in your job.
Keep working hard.
Live life to the fullest ^__^

Clarins Facial

Hello... ^________________^

I have been so tied up with work + a few other things lately.

Most nights I had racing mind and very restless sleep.

Some nights I didn't get to sleep until after past midnight. 

I began to wonder where has all the time gone??? I know with Xmas drawing closer, stress will soon kick in - but in the meantime I am hoping to maintain my stress level as manageable as it is now.

Fingers crossed everything will flow smoothly until my next holiday is due...

Anyway, today is my day off again ^_^
I finally found time to attend to my facial appointment with Clarins.

I have been looking forward to trying out new products that Clarins brought out lately.

This is the second time I had my facial done by Karena. 

My first experience with her was marvellous. She seems mature and knows what she is doing, although I secretly wish she could spend some time explaining all the products she used on me (so I won't forget!). You know things like how to sequence the application, what do they do, when to apply etc.

But before we started, I am already confident that I will enjoy the session (now that she understands my skin type and areas of concern a bit more). I am glad she gave me the attention I needed. The session took about an hour to finish, including massage on neck and hands - I was so relaxed I almost fell asleep!

The room was sufficient, neat and clean.
It would be lovely though if the light be dimmed down a little bit.

I vaguely remember 7 or 8 Clarins products being used excluding make up remover/facial cleanser. 

One of them being the new Clarins Facial Shaping Lift range which is supposed to shape the face and reduce its roundness. I am glad that I was able to try this.

Whether or not it was this product or the combined effect of everything she applied on me, I did feel my skin a lot tighter and more supple after the facial.

Facial not only improves my skin tone but also relaxes my mind.

The overall experience was great - I wish I could do this more often ^_^

I hope you too have enjoyed your day as much as I did!

Keep blogging

Keep smiling =)

Cheerio!

Gangnam Style!

Gangnam Style has galloped to the top of the pop charts in the United States, Britain, Australia etc... and has been a hot topic at work all morning!!!

I was wondering what's so cool about this music video initially....
Not until after watching this I can only say - this man is rather amusing - or should I say - he is mad?!!!

If every view on youtube generates a dollar - just imagine how much money can he make with more than 300 millions views on youtube!!!