Adventure to S.E.A Aquarium @ Resorts World Sentosa

Mr. H had bought the tickets for 2 ages ago but we just couldn't find time to visit S.E.A Aquarium. Funny part is, we decided to give it a miss and sell the tickets at Carousell for $30. Within a day of listing the tickets, we had a number of keen buyers and so Mr. H found it amusing and realised that $30 for 2 tickets was too cheap a deal. Expectedly, he asked me to do the dirty job of declining all offers, making me look like a "bad seller" in Carousell! Pfft!

But secretly, I was relieved we didn't sell away the tickets :)

Honestly, SEEA isn't something that I will genuinely pay for because I don't really know much about admiring sea creatures or even nature. But the experience was really an eye-opener. For instance, I've never seen creatures like jelly fish and sea horses and when I saw them for the first time, they looked amazingly mysterious that I could hardly take my eyes of them.

Sea Horse

By the way, don't you think the sea horses looked like golden seaweed. LOL.

Jellyfish

Jellyfish

There was 1 interactive station whereby you could touch the starfish. I was reluctant to touch it at first but after much convincing from Mr. H, I stroke the starfish lightly. Eh, not bad lei, feels like soft rock. And I touched it again. Haha. But I only manage to capture Mr. H touching the starfish. Not fair!

Ok more pictures from the visit below;

 Leah A A

Pictures are not 100% rosy all the time

I'm waiting for time to pass as I blog useless thoughts here. I say useless because these thoughts are really uncalled for and I know I should appreciate what He has bestowed upon me. But I can't help it. Well... I've been feeling down the past few days, envying the glamorous lives of others who seems to have no boundaries to travel all over the world or achieving successful career. For instance, take a look at this instagram account @esteezaki and you will know what I mean (boohoo!).

The clothes, the lifestyle, the beauty... all of these seems picture perfect! How can these be? I don't even have time (or rather, quite lazy) to even put on proper makeup and clothes to go to work every morning; preferring baggy clothes rather than body-hugging outfit, flat shoes rather than heels, and quick eyeliner drawn rather than having full makeup. Jeez, with such a lazy attitude, how to be picture perfect?

I know right.

I read somewhere that there are some ways to overcome this self-esteem. One of it is to write down the list of things that you are grateful for, and you will realise that things for you is not that bad after all. Well, let's try and see...

1. I'm married to my "dream" husband who cares for and loves me to the moon and back.
2. I have a complete family which I know I can rely on
3. I own a property at the age of 25
4. I've been to Europe for a solo business trip
5. I'm holding a decent job with a good pay (and time to do personal things during office hours!)
6. My financial situation has never left me to starve or in debts
7. I've successfully saved a large sum of money for my wedding
8. I've completed my private degree using my own savings
9. I've learnt sewing and can make my own dresses at the moment
10. I have great friends whom I can gossip and have fun with...

Hmm... Not too bad, for the 1st 10 list!

I guess every individual has something that they are grateful for. Whatever is being portrayed on social media may just be a façade and there could be something else lying underneath that beautiful smile. I've just seen a shocking photo of a CEO whom I used to work with, someone who holds 6 companies (as she claimed) and holds the title of Business Guru. Someone, whom I believe is one of her haters, had created a fake FB account, uploading photos of her and her scandal behaving intimately. Problem here is that she's married, to a home-stay husband (as she always proudly announced) and has 3 lovely-looking kids. But... that photo... with all hugs and close proximity to other guy... It is just heart-breaking to imagine what her husband and kids will feel when they see this today :(

If you climb up too high, you will fall and break hard. Period.

Leah A A

LEAH's Kitchen: Roti Kirai or Roti Jala

#rotikirai or #rotijala, both meant the same thing - "net bread". When I saw that my mom had cooked beef curry last Saturday, I had a sudden craving for roti kirai. I knew there will be much left from the curry gravy for Sunday and thus, I took this opportunity to make roti kirai for the whole family.

I remember those times when my mom curse and swear while making roti kirai because she failed terribly. LOL. I thought it's going to be quite a challenge since it's going to be my first try but surprisingly, it was pretty easy in the end :)

Roti Kirai (20-30 pieces)

 

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups of flour

1/2 x teaspoon of ground turmeric ("serbuk kunyit")

2 x cups of water

2 x cups of coconut milk

1 x teaspoon of salt

2 x eggs

*1 cup = 240ml/ 240gm

 

Essential Equipment:

Blender

Big frying pan

Roti jala mould

Credits: kellysiewcooks

Instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients and ensure smooth batter. Once the mixture is evenly mixed, blend the mixture to ensure even smoother batter (this is important to ensure that the batter flows out smoothly from the mould).
2. Scoop mixture using the mould and see if the batter flows out smoothly.
3. Heat frying pan and brush oil on it. Use roti kirai mould to scoop mixture and start pouring the mixture onto frying pan into circular motion (don't need to pour so much!)
4. Cook about 20-30 seconds (lightly crisp) and start folding the roti kirai into half, and half again to make a triangle.
5. Serve with curry or sambal.

 

My Healthy Rating:

Not applicable. Haha, this is too yummy to think about calories :)

 

Reno fever!

My reno fever still continue today. Yikes!

Yesterday, we went to IKEA to get some stuff for the house so that our contractor can help us do the necessary mounting. I thought buying accessories is quite straightforward but I was damn wrong. We reached IKEA at 3pm, gobbled down 10pcs of Swedish meatball and 3 wings each (greedy, I know), and went on with our shopping escapade. And guess what time did we leave IKEA?..... 9PM!!!

I couldn't believe we spend 6 blardy hours in IKEA and all we bought (like finally) is just some accessories for the laundry area and some toilet railings. Pfft.

Oh yes, I'm in love with Pinterest! There are so many ideas you can get for the home décor. Typically, my favourite area is the kitchen. I've already imagine how I want my kitchen to look like and make it a point to Mr. Husband to let me be in charge of the kitchen décor (basically, telling him to back off! Teehee!). Instead of working today, I was busy searching for Kitchen décor ideas and I started sketching the wall items that I wanted for the kitchen. Seriously in love with these vintage stuff...

 

I know my drawing is not that impressive, but do you get the idea? *excited mode*

Leah A A

Overly Egg-cited!!!

I can't believe I just declined my boss' offer to accompany him to Europe for the Worldwide Meeting in October. Call it stupid or whatever because I would rather spend my time with Hubby and concentrate on our ongoing Reno works. YES, Reno works!

Wheee!

Our Reno started 5th Aug and so far, I have only visited my house once. Jeez, some ownership I have! Haha. Well, there is nothing much to see just yet since the last time I visited. We had electrical wiring done, and the workers were still sorting huge piles of sand for the haulage works. That was then, but 4 days ago, my flooring had arrived! So I'm overly excited to see my house later picturing my house with the glorious marble. Heh!

Honestly, I wasn't that much excited before during the process of searching for ID, comparing quotes, asking for discounts etc. It was a tiring work and I hate it. During this period, I met different king of people - the "Ya Ya Papaya", the "Arrogant", the "Si Bei Expensive", the "Super Persistent" - and many more. In fact, I didn't really had a good impression of my chosen contractor from the start he contacted me until the first day I met him. If I can recall, his website didn't impress me, see how important a good image is? But after receiving his quote, eh not bad lei! Typical Singaporean, I know. But that's not all, I like the way he respected our "terms and conditions" and didn't push us to do more than necessary unlike other contractors. Workmanship wise, I have to wait and see the outcome.

The thing that made me excited was also the fact that my sofa bed has arrived, parked in a corner of our room, in my mom's place. Call it an impulse purchase! I couldn't resist the offer of getting this sofa at $99 ONLY! And what's more, it was exactly the kind of furniture I was looking for. I'm a happy kid, not sure about Mr. Husband though!

 

I'm filling my brain with lazy thoughts of just lying on that sofa and drinking hot chocolate on a rainy days :D

 

The momentum has now pick up and I am thinking of a whole long list of fixtures/fittings to buy so that our contractor can help us with the mounting. Things like mirror, picture frame, toiletries items etc. I better come up with a list of items to buy before I forget anything that requires drilling onto the delicate wall. How exciting!

 

Leah A A

LEAH's Kitchen: Grilled Salmon served with Caprese Salad

I was craving for #caprese salad as I browse through the photos taken during my trip to Europe. I gave that idea to Mr. Husband if he wants that as a meal and he frowned, "No meat?"

Seriously? What a carnivore! LOL. Ok, Mr. Husband. You asked for it, you will get it :)

The caprese salad is pretty heavy on its own and hence, I decided on fish as the main "meat", and decided on #grilledsalmon for this meal...

Grilled Salmon with Lemon Butter Sauce served with Italian Caprese Salad

Ingredients:

200gm of salmon fillet

2 x tomatoes (sliced)

1 x lemon (freshly squeezed)

1 x garlic (finely chopped)

Fresh basil leaves

Butter

Grounded black pepper

Sugar

Salt

Mozzarella cheese (sliced)

Olive Oil

Balsamic vinegar

 

Instructions:

Grilled Salmon

1. To make the sauce, melt butter in a sauce pan and add a small amount of lemon to taste, garlic, sugar and pepper. If you are using unsalted butter, add a little bit of salt. For a creamier sauce, you can add fresh cream to make the sauce thicker.
2. Season salmon with generous serving of pepper and salt, and a little amount of olive oil. On a frying pan, spread olive oil just enough to grill the salmon. Cook salmon at all side till it turn golden brown.
3. Plate the cooked salmon and pour the lemon butter sauce on it. Sprinkle pepper and basil leaves as garnish

Caprese Salad

1. Plate the tomatoes, with cheese and basil leaves.
2. Pour a little of olive oil and balsamic vinegar

My Healthy Rating:

The fattening stuff we have here is the mozzarella cheese.

Hence, eat in moderation and I'm sure you will be fine :)

LEAH's Kitchen: Chicken Wrap with Sweet Corn

Hubby told me that he was going to the gym. As a good wifey (ehem! self-praise here), I had decided to whip up something healthy for his post-workout meal and motivate him to stick to a healthy eating regime. I recalled those times in Australia where I made #chickenwrap lunches during our stay in the apartment.

Without searching for any recipe, I decided to explore mixing my own ingredients for the wrap filling, with whatever I can find in the supermarket...

Chicken Wrap & Sweet Corn

 

 

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken breast (or any chicken parts) - cut into small pieces

2 x tomatoes (diced)

1 x bell pepper (diced)

1 x onion (sliced)

1 x sweet corn (cut into 3 pieces)

Tortilla wraps

Oyster sauce

Dried basil leaves

Grounded Black Pepper

Salt

Butter (small amount)

 

Instructions:

Sweet Corn

1. Heat water in a pot and add sugar. When the water starts boiling, add sweet corn and boil for about 8-10minutes. You can use a fork to poke onto the corn and see if it glides down easily. If it is, means, the corn is cooked.
2. Melt butter and sprinkle some pepper and dried basil leaves. Using tongs, place the corn into the mixture and briefly lather it with the butter mixture.

Chicken Filling

1. Pour olive oil into a frying pan. Cook chicken until it is half-cooked, remove from pan and put it aside.
2. Using the same pan, cook onions and bell pepper till fragrant. Add chicken and tomatoes and stir fry till the vegetables turn soft and puree is formed.
3. Add in oyster sauce, pepper, and salt to taste. Stir fry till mixture is cooked.
4. Heat tortilla wrap in a microwave for 30 seconds. Put a small amount of chicken filling and wrap it. There you have it!

My Healthy Rating:

Definitely a healthy choice of meal. Great idea if you want to have something light yet fulfilling to the stomach.