I have whole lots of new gadget last week. Firstly, it was the onigiri mould and onigiri bento boxes that I just bought. To compliment to the onigiri, I bought a new plate just for photography sake. I know, this are all the wacky stuff a blogger did and I am one of them. Beside the new kitchen gadget, I bought myself two camera gadget too.

It was the Tamron AF 28-75mm f2.8 lens and Canon Speedlite 580 EX II external flash.

Just a week before my nephew’s wedding, I tested up the new gadget and of course that included my new kitchen gadget.

The flash was pointed upright at 180deg, 2.8f ISO400. Picture was a bit dark tho. I have the flash pointed about 45deg with the same camera setting. The outcome was:

Well, a little over exposed. The problem is, flash doesn’t work in macro and when you shoot in vertical, you should turn the flash to face upward and not side way. Those are the things to remember. Can remember ah???!!! So many things to remember now!!!! Don’t ask me to invest in flash memory $$$.

There are lots more to learn and explore with the new gadgets. Will see how it turns out during my Nephew’s wedding. On the other hand, of course the onigiri taste nice la. I can’t go wrong with my cooking.

Stay tune…

My kids love Fairy Bread very much. I think any other kids would love them too.

Fairy Bread is just a normal bread spread with butter and topped with lots of Hundred and Thousand and just about any other decorative sweets you get from the bakery shop.

This is my 8 y/o bento. We had some mandarin oranges, frankfurters & carrot in skew, monkey container with kewpie mayo for dippings and tulip cut out Fairy Bread. You need not have to worry as the bread is full of Hundreds and Thousands they won’t stick to each other even if you stacked them.

For my boy, I hate to have wastage from the bread. My all time favourite shape - triangle!

Seriously, kids won’t mind the shape at all. I put less Hundreds and Thousands as compared to the real Fairy Bread as they really covered them with the colourful sweets. Go check out more about Fairy Bread in the internet if you are interested. They are very famous in Australia.

While kids have those sweet stuff, the adult had real food. (asif)

Dunno why each time I see avocado in the supermarket, I must bring home one even if the price is RM4.99 per piece. I love guacamole a lot.

If you have a better recipe, please share them with me. This is my recipe. Very simple stuff:

• Avocado
• Sundried tomatoes
• Yellow onion
• Pinch of salt
• Half lemon/lime juice

Mashed the avocado and combined all of the ingredients. You get homemade guacamole. Very delicious to go with nachos.

This is the adult bento. Very obvious we had spaghetti bolognese, bake potatoes with chicken bits and cheese topped with guacalome and bake drumlet. Hubby told me three of his colleagues took the spaghetti one roll each as I put them in a ball size so that it is easier for him to share eat . When he told me that, I quietly cursed under my breath, “Idoit, don’t appreciate my food issit. Luckly his colleagues appreciate my food.”

We was driving thru Singapore’s Chinatown and I saw many other things that interest me like the antique shops and some very nice and old shop lot great for photography.  We do not have time to walkabout in Chinatown plus with 3 kiddos in tow, I don’t think they are interested to walk the miles.

I saw this very lovely yellow windows and ordered BIL to stop the car by the curb while I ran down to take same quick shots.

Let me ask you guys a religious question especially for those who is a Protestant. Will you as a blogger or journalist enter a Buddhist Temple or Hindu Kuil or even a Catholic Church on the pretext of photography?

Well, my answer is yes. Hubby is a Buddhist and I am a Christian. As a wife, I still respect my spouse and his believe. And as a wife, it is a victory for me as my spouse never forbid me or our children to believe in my believe. Thanks God we never had any disagreement on religious matter even after we had children and never did once, my spouse trying to stop my kids from attending Sunday School and why should I forbid them from entering a Temple?

Anyway, we are there to look-see-look-see and not praying to their God and most of the time, I am outside the prayer compound.

Not going to go too deep into religious matter as it is always the most sensitive issue. Let’s put it this way. You can be holy all you want but doesn’t mean that I have to follow suit. It is not you who is here to judge, but God, during the judgement day.

I’m not much a religious person myself but at least I don’t act holy and yet bitch people like there is no tomorrow. Who is making the biggest sin here? If taking photographs in a temple or even taking up Yoga is a sin, might as well I go and rob or steal, right?

Errr…. I think I better stop now. Ok. No more religious talk. Let’s get back to the pictures I shoot around the Temple compound.

BIL was joking about this photo. Both the Brother looks like modeling for a travel agent company advertising some tours to Tibet. kekeke… or rather, they looks like the below:

Oh sorry ya, this is the April edition. *kakakka….

Pillars

I love the follow 4 pictures on the oil candle. Spot the bokeh in the background.

The best lens to create a bokeh is by using 50mm f1.8

We did not plan for the temple visit. We was having breakfast at the nearby hawker center and BIL said it is a nice temple. I just follow whatever they suggest. Since I was in spaghetti top and shorts, the temple caregiver makes me put on the sarong and a shawl before I could enter the compound. I kinda like the outfit after that. lol.

It was slightly more than a year ago since I visited Siem Reap. While I was there, I bought a packet of rice paper (it is also our version of spring roll) but never get to cook them till recently when I saw the expiry date is getting nearer.

This is the method:

Brush some water all over the rice paper to soften it.

See, when the rice paper has soften, it is almost transparent and very fragile to move around. Make sure you put them where you want it to be on your working table or cutting board. I bought this orange cutting board from Tupperware for handling cooked food. It says here in their catalogue, “… quality cutting board that minimizes cut-lines to prevent bacterial growth.” I am putting my trust on Tupperware product. Hope they are what they claimed to be.

As for the ingredients, there is no rules saying what can or cannot use. Just prepare the ingredients that you favour most. As for me, jiu hu char (stir fried turnip) is a must, fresh lettuce, fresh cucumber, roast pork or lap cheong (wax pork sausage) and shrimps.

(p/s:  dSLR ran out of battery.  Took this pic using Sony T-10.  Crappy result, huh.)

It all goes into the adult bento.  You slowly wait la if the kids would eat something like this.  I have some homemake samosa too.  No tutorial for that as I have yet to mastered the wrapping skills.  Other time then.

After our last destination from Dolphin Lagoon, we left Sentosa pretty early at 4ish to The Merlion near Fullerton Hotel hoping to catch a sunset as all of us was dead tired from the walking even though Yours Truly would love to stay back for the musical fountain.

Throughout the day, the weather has been kind to us. Love it but hate it too!

It has been cloudy and not much ray. I reckon a blue sky would compliment a better picture.

Spot that checkered thing at the Merlion’s tail? They put that up with conjunction during the F1 night race held recently. Ugly isn’t it?

We managed to view the Singapore Flyer too. Spot the cranes on the right? That is the constuction of Singapore’s first ‘licensed’ Casino and I heard Movieworld will be there too. Woohoo!

The following pictures is shot using my faithful Sony T-10 as the battery on my dSLR decided to died on me.

Prince’s favourite Aunty. He will hold her hand while walking throughout our 5 days stay in Singapore. Good for me as I can have my hands free for photography. *kekekek….

We are called the ‘Sister-In-Laws’. Different mother, different father but share the same title called Ms & Mrs Neo. Rofl…. how on earth did I think of such a thing. Sot already!

For the fan of F1 racing, can you recognized this bridge? This route is part of the F1 night race held in Singapore recently. The route is still closed for public and is great for photography!

Someone is trying hard to balance

This wrap up our first day outing. We went home to SIL’s place and decided to tapau (pack) back for dinner as all of us was not only dead tired, we basically was totally D.E.A.D. Full stop.

Stay tune as tomorrow is another day we play tourist. This time, with different ‘tour guide’.

Another backdated bento that I’ve prepared during Mid Autumn Festival.

A little large on portion so that I can have them from breakfast to lunch. I tried to bring a lunch box at least 3 times a week to my work place. This is part of my frugal budgeting and planning to save for more holiday and what’s not.  This is what I had:

Left: Homemade Siew Mai with a little of crabstick on the top, Char Siew Pau (sliced into half) and chocolate flavoured mantou (also sliced into half).

Left: Slices of Peaches and piggy mooncake (a homemade gift from a friend of mine)

This post is the continuation from our walking and camwhoring on Siloso Beach before adjourning in Underwater World.

Turtles and Japanese Carp was seen swimming in the pond at the entrance to Underwater World. Kids was seen happily feeding them with popcorn. The greedy fish of course chomping down whatever was thrown in the water. I just hope they won’t die from high cholesterol. Talking about which, if I took too much of popcorn, the next morning you will see acne popping on my face.

The star fish pond at the entrance was a big hit among kids. This is my first time holding a star fish! The proper way to held them is putting them on your palm while the star fish still submerging in the water.

But you know, some people tend to get carried away with their camera. Abuthen? At least a snap shot of the face for remembrance ma.

Other than the Star Fish, Stingray and another aquatic fish is allowed for visitor to touch. That makes the trip even more interesting. Not much picture was captured as the lighting was very dim resulted too many crappy shots.

(This shot was taken by Eldest Princess using our faithful pns Sony-10. She got this shot so perfectly. I’m impressed!)

It was a quick tour as we have seen something more interesting than Sentosa Underwater World. I reckon the Langkawi Underwater World was much better in terms of corals, ocean and sea animals (we have penguins!) minus the 83m long moving travelator, of course.

We took a quick bite at the food court. The Singapore chicken rice is so good. Of course it has to be the red version. Until today, my Son still asked for the red chicken rice.

After lunch, we hopped on the ‘top-less’ bus ride to Dolphin Lagoon. Woohoo, finally I get a change to ride on a top-less bus! I wonder what will happen if it rains all of a sudden. Roof top passenger holding on a umbrella? Gee….

Anyway, we was quite lucky as the weather is just nice. The sun was overshadowed by the cloud hence I do get very dull pictures. (psstt… but can photoshop la)

Older and younger SILs. Fyi, SIL stands for Sister-In-Law. I have people asking me what is SIL, BIL, FIL. Now you know the answer? Cleber girl, cleber boy.

We reached 10 minutes before the show starts and since all the seats was taken, we have to squat (after 5 minutes, I sat!) on the beach. Not a bad thing actually since I have a better view and nearer to the stage too.

Someone once commented that the Dolphin show is not worth the money. I almost gave it a miss but since our Underwater World ticket came with the entrance to Dolphin Lagoon, we make sure we utilised that too. Well, for my opinion, I would say different people has different interest. Something might interest you and something might not.

Hey, I reckon the show is good! I’ll give two thumbs up since I have not seen a real dolphin at close range before.

And I mean, I am really close as I was squatting sitting right smack where the emcee was standing.

Some of you may notice the dolphin is pink. According to the host, they are born grey. As and when they grew older, their colour slowly turned pink. Hmm…. you know what I am thinking?

Singapore cannot afford to buy young dolphins!

That’s wrapped up our trip in Sentosa Island. Everyone was dead tired so I did not want to suggest to stay back for the Musical Fountain. We left Sentosa pretty early at 4ish to The Merlion near Fullerton Hotel hoping to catch a sunset, maybe?

Stay tune

It’s been almost 7 years since the last time I stepped foot into Singapore. The main reason is because I was too kiam siap (stingy) to spend for the kid’s passport (RM150 x 3 = *ouch!*). But guess, sometimes our priority change according to our lifestyle. SIL’s HDB flat is still the same ole look except that she had refurbish her home theater carpeting to red. Awesome!

Being in a foreigner’s land, we were busy playing tourist and SILs & BILs is our tourist guide. Without wasting much time, on the first day we drove to Sentosa. 5 adults, 5 children and 1 infant squeeze into a car. Unbelievable! The first attraction is to hop on the skyride and come back down to the foothill by luge.

Kids queuing up for the skyride

Off we go, up up to the sky! (SIL shot this using my Sony T-10)

I thought I was brave enough as the ride looks kinda… nothing. But I was wrong. I was so wrong!

The rides was indeed scary! Scary cos our legs are dangling and there was not much safety precaution around. I was holding on REAL tight to the bar. (Check out the kelong in the background. Chun to max!)

The only time I pretended not to be scary - one hand up and the other still holding on to my dear life. kakaka. I cringe when I look Baby Princess. See that? One slight slip and …. you know what’s next. *glup*

Luckly I pass my camera to Daddy and he was brave enough to swing here and there to take pictures. I think I was cold like a stone the minute I sat on the ride.

At this instant, all I did was holding on real tight to the bar. No more goofing around for the camera. I have to squeeze my toes really hard so that my slipper won’t slip. Real heart throbbing, man!

Was definitely relieved once we stepped foot on ground and we hurried to the part go-cart, part-toboggan luge.

Model: BIL and nephew - The luge is a gravity ride with a unique steering and braking. It is kinda safe for all ages as long they are strong enough to pull the steering handle for braking.

Well, the photographer also need to apply some special skills to be able to stop at the curb to take pictures like this. I know, self praise is international disgrace. *evil grin*

I will update this post with few more photographs took by SIL using my PNS camera at the ending point of the track. Some very hilarious pictures.

Updated:  The rest of the shot here was taken by SIL using my Sony-T10

This track is towards the ending point where Eldest Princess got stuck in the middle of the bump >.<

After some wiggling, she managed to freed herself.  Smart girl!  Spot her helmet too >.<

Baby Princess’s helmet also not much different >.<

Next attraction would be the underwater world. We took some bus ride and some walking thru Siloso Beach and decided to stop to camwhore a bit. I can’t resist such things!

The moment I saw the ‘O’, I have so much idea in my mind. Sad to say, none of the kids is co-operating with me. You know, I have to yell at them! Oops! Now SIL know that I am such a cuckoo mother that get upset when kids doesn’t want to take pictures according to my way. *buried head in hole*

That is what I am talking about. The many ideas of ‘O’ and it’s superbly fun! I don’t understand why the kids doesn’t want to co-operate with me!!!

To be continue in next post on Underwater world. Stay tune!

The kids had mini burger one of the day. I defrosted some Ramli chicken patties and reshape them smaller according to the bun size. Without using any oil, I pan fried the patties on non-stick pan till brown.

This is my first and probably last time making burgers. Why? Because the patties is full of fats! Very very unhealthy food. I should learn to make my own patties one day.

The greens is for decoration purpose only. I knew my eldest daughter (8 y/o) will discard them away. The funny thing is, they always came home with empty bento box. I wonder if they threw their ‘unfavorite’ food or their friends help them to eat it.

Left to right: Mini burger, deep fried potato chips without SALT!, omochi and champagne grapes.

As you can see, this post is dated back during the Mid Autumn Festival. After taking the pic, Eldest daughter didn’t want the Omochi so I replaced them with my homemade jelly mooncake and decided to take another picture. This time I squeeze in a small container of ketchup for her.

(Hello Kitty Bento Box sold in Market Hall)

I know I’m so vain.