meet up with photographer @ La Belle

today had the first meetup with my pre-wedding shoot photographer = kenny..... i read in forum that kenny is good so i am excited to meet him to discuss about the shoot locations..... my impression of photographers tend to be a more slender guy, perhaps is a stereotype that most of those photographers that i saw in magazines tend to be small frame guy.... but when we saw kenny, we got a little bit of shock... he is actually quite a big built kind.... really broad shoulder.... of cause, his size has nothing to do with his skill but i was just surprise =p

kenny is quite a nice guy, quite friendly... i am definitely not the hardworking sort of brides who do like tonnes of research on what kind of poses she want to do or where to shoot.... i only know that i want to shoot among those tall grasses area cause i saw in other albums that it look quite nice there... then another thing is the famous big tree + bench shoot... haha i guess i am a very common person.... kenny also showed us some of his works on his phones... some of the scenes are really pretty but then most of them cant be done in SG =(

as i have 2 outdoor gowns so naturally we will go to 2 different place to shoot.... our sales coordinator, ling zhee suggest that we do a shoot at a place nearby studio first, followed by 1 at a further location as you dont want to waste time traveling around as you have to go back to the studio to change gowns & change makeup.... as the studio is near henderson so we thought of shooting first at henderson wave area....

i like the terrace stairs... photo taken from here....

the henderson wave... photo taken from here....

i think hort park area not say ALOT of things to take but i think is still good for a simple greenery style

we did consider sentosa but then mayb abit tedious to go to other places after that so we decided to forgo sentosa.... the other places we decided for the next outdoor gown is puggol lalang field...

the lalang field.... photo taken from here....

this is somewhat the kind of feel i want... photo taken from here.........

 apparently this lalang field is like the super hot spot for photoshoot especially among the cosplayers.... i have seen quite a number of photo with that background but didnt know the exact location till now....

the other famous location is the mandai reservoir tree + bench....

the famous tree... photo taken from here....

something like this is nice too... photo taken from here...

i guess there are many nice outdoor locations but then you are limited by time so have to sacrifices & make do with whatever is available =)

so after meeting the photographer, we went to walk around 100AM & they have a NTUC finest at the basement =) i do like to stroll around nice supermarkets, you get exposed to food that you wont get to see everyday.... so at the outlet, we saw coolmix mochi ice cream

mochi ice cream

mochi ice cream is like 1 of my favourite dessert & is a must eat when i go back to HK cause there arent much brands in SG.... so i was excited to try this.... i think normal NTUC also sell them... 1 packet cost $4.90 if i didnt remember wrongly....

individually wrapped

so each box has 6 mochi ice cream = 6 flavours = vanilla, chocolate, black sesasme, mango, green tea & strawberry.... at first i was thinking they will be packed in a box but actually they are individually wrapped like those marshmallow mochi.....

mango mochi

each of  them is about 4cm in diameter... so is kind of like a bite size thing.... but sadly... among the 6 flavours.. i think only vanilla & chocolate tasted nice.... mango is ok.... strawberry & black sesame is edible but not very nice... & green tea is HORRIBLE!!! it tasted super weird & bitter that i almost wanted to puke out!!!

verdict... no more coolmix mochi ice cream for me.... there are definitely better brands out there in the market but definitely NOT coolmix... not cool at all =(

cute baby animals & MVs

another cute post that i came across on facebook about cute baby animals.... actually i think most things will look cute when they are young/baby cause they will have this cute face & staring you with their big puppy eyes... lovely~~

baby hawk

baby stingrays

normally i dont like birds & other organisms but you see, even hawks & stingrays can look so cute when they are baby.... actually the baby stingrays remind me of the fish paste wanton for steamboat... then here comes the cutey ones...

cutey kitten

lovely bunny

another kitten

even donkey is so cute!!!!

BUT my favourite is still puppy...

MOE PUPPY!!!

me god.... look at the big, round puppy eyes!!! MOE~~~ (moe means cute/lovely in japanese).... seriously... those eyes are so cute!!! like how can you refuse it when it give you the lovely puppy stare... can faint lea..... anyway all the photos were taken here....

another interesting post i saw on facebook was the G.E.M (邓紫棋)performance on  我是歌手.... she was singing 你不是真正的快乐 by mayday.... i am not a fan of any chinese singers but i must say her performance was really good....

then i also went to look & listen to the original MV....

i like the MV... kind of sad but still happy ending..... after listening to their songs then remind me of another songs that i hear like numerous times everyday when i was in taiwan Dec 2013

again... this is a really nice song especially the chorus... really nice....  i must say the 2 mayday songs i listened to are really nice.... the lyrics are really meaningful.... really admire 阿信 for his chinese proficiency,... is like some of the words i never heard or would thought of using before.... & i would dare say my chinese level is not the super lousy kind already... i THINK above average la.... really chinese pro..... the tune is also very nice.... so do enjoy the songs =)

J.S beauty paradigm

yesterday i went to try facial for the first time... kind of excited about it.... always wanted to try facial but find it abit pricey & the main problem is that i dont know where is a good outlet to go to.... i consider trying those new york, adonis, jean yip kind but really skeptical & i hate the pestering tactic the staff used to psycho you to sign up packages or buy their products.. totally hate that... is like i dont have the freedom to think about what i want.... then the normal gimmick those beauty chains used will be like free trial to attract you... actually i wanted to try shakura facial cause i read on a blog that the experience was not too bad but then after that i went on to read forum/review... & it was bad..... i would say most facial products will work to some extend but is the service which makes everything different.... most people feedback that the beauticians will keep pestering you to sign up for those insanely expensive package then try to cut prices, say give you discounts or whatever shit.... but still is like a huge amount of $ to park there.... i rather pay per session kind....

so due to all the skepticism i had, never gotten to try facial till now... cause need to take wedding photos soon... must look pretty =) so i asked my friends what facial they tried... one of them suggest me to try J.S beauty paradigm & i gave it a shot..... the outlet is at Far East Plaza #04-63.... tel: 6836 1106

J.S beauty paradigm

my friend recommended me suling, so naturally i requested for her.... really nice lady, i dont know what is considered good skills but i think she is quite skillful.... sorry that i didnt take anymore photo of the procedure.... but i shall describe it below =)

1. first of all is must cleanse the face
2. suling said she applied some gel or what so that can open up the pores or something
3. meanwhile she also used the steam machine to steam my face for like 5-10min
4. here comes the painful part... extraction.... i guess i have a lot of clog pores & oil glands so she spent i guess a good 15min or so to like scrap my face....

extraction tool... photo taken from here...

i tried using this tool before but end up having red bumps on my face rather than getting rid of the blackheads... i guess that's the difference between the pro & noob..... the first few minutes was ok, but subsequently i guess the glands were really stubborn or what then she really pressed quite hard till i felt as if she was using needle to poke my face or what... BUT still manageable though i was abit teary & want to sneeze....
5. after the grilling extraction, she cleaned my face again
6. applied some lotion or what to like soothe the redness
7. clean face again
8. apply mask
9. while masking... she did some head massage... kind of relaxing...
10. cleansing again & finish off with some lotion

the whole session took about 60min & it cost $60... i would say is reasonable compared to those super expensive packages... another good thing about suling is that she doesnt hard sell.... as i have combination skin, my T-zone can get quite oily... she only suggest me to get their company moisturizer... see... the important thing is SUGGEST, not pester & psycho me to buy the product = good & i like!!! & the moisturizer also not cheap, i think sothy brand from paris... a small tube cost $82 but they having GSS sales so have 20%.... due to her good service, i have decided to continue with my facial session there =)

PS: i wanted to put picture of my skin before & after but my camera not good enough then all the pictures turned out too blur to see anything.... shall try again next time with my bf camera =p

玉米鱼肚羹 (corn with fish maw soup) recipe

*back dated entry*

this was supposed to be a super long post about what i cooked during chinese new year.... finally going to post the soup recipe that i prepared for dinner which is 玉米鱼肚羹 or corn with fish maw soup.... pretty simple dish but nice to drink....

ingredients:

the ingredients

fish maw                                                       2-3 pieces
campbelle cream of chicken soup                  3 cans
corn kernel                                                   1 packet
swanson chicken broth                                  1 can
chinese/japanese mushroom                          6 pieces
chicken fillet                                                  150g
dried conpoy (瑶柱)                                     6 pieces
water                                                            4L

this portion will be sufficient for 10pax unless each person want to drink like 500mL each....

Steps:
1. first blench the fish maw in boiling water with ginger & spring onion for afew minutes to remove the oil & fishy taste... after afew minutes, it will start to soften.... continue to press on it once in awhile to let it excrete out the oil... repeat this step till no more oil is coming out from the fish maw

fish maw before soaking in boiling water

fish maw after afew minutes

2. soak dried conpoy & mushroom in water for at least 30min, till soften
3. diced the ingredients (chicken, mushroom & fish maw)

diced ingredients

4. marinate the diced chicken in soya sauce, salt, sugar & corn starch
5. pour the campbell soup + chicken broth into pot & add water.... bring to boil
6. add mushroom, conpoy & corn in.... boil for 1hr at medium flame
7. add fish maw & chicken in, boil for additional 30min...
8. sample the soup & season with salt if necessary

final product

beautiful places in japan

was just randomly surfing on facebook & came across this link on "30 resaons to go japan before you die", there are numerous of these kind of links but so far this is the first link that i saw which focus solely on japan.... japan is 1 of the top visited places in the world by tourists & is definitely my favourite travel place.... the place is so clean & people are generally polite & nice.... i know there is alot of political issues going on between japan & china but personally i dont care about the politics part since no government is perfect... for me, i only care about the shopping & sightseeing.... so back to this post... if you click on the links, there are many beautiful pictures about different places in japan.... below are my personal favourites... (all photos were taken from www.tsunagujapan.com/c/view/en/2213)

Icicles of Misotsuchi / Saitama

 my god... the different shades of blue is so nice!!!! is like an ice castle!!!

Firefly Squid Spawn / Toyama

 beautiful sight... i think mauritius also has this kind of beach

Shirakawa-gō / Gifu

my lab mate went to this place before & he said it was absolutely stunning place... really want to go there this year.... imagine staying in those little huts... so lovely!!!

Blue Pond / Hokkaido

 so clear blue that it looks fake

Kawachi Fuji Garden/ Fukuoka

this is definitely my FAVOURITE!!!! imagine you have the wedding photoshoot there... omg!!! how romantic can it get!!! but nah... no $ to do that.. haiz...

Mifuneyama rakuen / Saga

 i absolutely love the colours on this landscape.... is like something out of a picture!!!

Bicchū Matsuyama Castle / Okayama

 this is like super dreamy ok....

Kurobe Gorge Railway / Toyama

again... lovely colours.... i think autumn has really nice colours, everything look so nice with the maple leaves....

this is what i mean.... so many pretty sites.... how can you not go & see them!!!! after looking at the pretty pictures, i think it kind of help with the monday blues... give you motivation to work harder & save $ to travel =)

SEA aquarium

yesterday went down to SEA aquarium at sentosa for the first time..... not really into fishes so didnt really had the urge to go down to the aquarium but this time we had discounted tickets ($25 for adults) cause there is this MOE family day & jiejie bought tickets for us.....for this special event, the aquarium closed at 6pm for general public & open from 6-10pm for the MOE event....

MOE family day

the tickets

special blue bands to distinguish the guests

this big ship like thing at entrance

once you entered the entrance, you will be greeted by this lion head thing.... probably give you the feel that you are on a voyage to see fishes =) then along the walkway there are some exhibits about the south east asia culture & customs... the actual aquarium is actually at basement, so you will  take the escalator down....& you will be greeted by the big fish tank...

school of fish

more fishes

there is this tunnel thing, just like the underwater world

the tunnel

there are fishes even below your feet

coral & fishes

another angle

my niece being more interested at the touch screen thing than the fishes

 

 

one of the giant fish tank

more fishes

some smaller fish tank

& the fish name is old wife... like wth, what's the relation

there are 2 snacks bar inside the aquarium to grab something to munch on

we gotten blueberry & chocolate muffin.... average...

look at the amount of people....

fish tank nearby

 at the cafe area, is actually the dolphin display... but there was this mop of people hogging the tanks so we cant really see much.... but occasionally can see a dolphin swim pass =)

my niece fascinated by jellyfish

jellyfish

different species of jellyfish

& after walking for a distant... you will finally reached the limelight = the super GIANT fish tank....

the GIANT fish tank

it is really BIG.... you will see there is this yellowxblack line near the glass, the staff told us that we should stand behind the yellow line because the glass is 70cm thing & we cant see well when you get too close to the tank & is actually bad for eyes... didnt know that..... i think is actually quite nice to sit down & slack around the tank, looking at the fishes... kind of relaxing...

stingray

fishes

BIG stuff

more fishes

in the middle is the BIG fish that my niece called it lao po po

another giant fish

inside the tank really has ALOT of fishes.... & i am always so amazed that they wont eat each other..... next to the HUGE tank is the ocean dome...

ocean dome

ceiling of the dome

along the way out, you will pass by smaller fish tanks....

starfish

lots of starfish

pretty colour fishes

the contrast is really nice

this school of BIG fish swim too fast

BIG fish

some coral

nice colour coral

stonefish display

stonefish swimming passed

electic eel

eel on the side

another tunnel on the way out

souvenir store

the display behind the lion head ship thing

after seeing all the display it was like 8.30pm+, we were all tired to go out & find food so we just made do with the restaurant at the aquarium....

mushroom soup... quiche is super blend & dry

fish & chip... standard

softshell crab pasta... not nice

chicken wing....

i would say the food there is really just edible... similar to many amusement parks restaurants, normally they dont serve very nice food... but if you just want to fill your stomach then of cause it is fine.... in conclusion, i wont say the aquarium is AMAZING but the GIANT fish tank is pretty cool.... i guess if there wasnt the large amount of people, the visit would have been much more pleasant....