The Ideal Job

When I told her that I was busy doing work, and hence only started to print the cards one hour before I ended work, she replied me with something like "Like that a lot to do ar? I haven't even pass you the accounts part. The previous girl was doing more." Well, I think if she could cope, she wouldn't have left. 

I believe many of you face such grievances at work and some of you probably totally hate your job. So do I. It has only been 3 weeks into my second job and I already feel the shittiness. I'm starting to wonder whether the problem lies with me. Maybe I just can't work. Maybe I'm too pampered. I'm a complain queen who thinks that the grass is always greener on the other side. Yes, I thought I could find a better job when I was in my first one. I went through the interview of my current job thinking that I have found myself a better opportunity. The interviewer and the boss are both friendly and they believed in me. The company is developing itself and the boss seems sincere in wanting to give me this chance to prove my capability. "You look like a person with ambitions, you want to succeed but you don't know what directions you want to go", the boss told me. I thought at that time, that wow, finally somebody understands me. But no, all these are lies. This job is nothing like what I expected.

Why can't I just be in a normal job? But, is there such a thing as a normal job? I am not an ambitious woman. I lived all my life not really having any idea of my career path. I just know that I wanted this ideal normal office job, working just weekdays, having the ability to leave work on time, and to be able to put everything down on the work desk at the end of the day. I wanted a very balanced life whereby I have adequate time for myself and the people around me. I only knew I wanted to be a nice wife who has time to cook and clean for that one love, and a mother who is there for her children as they grow. But I'm not sure whether such a balanced job exist now, in this hectic era which revolves around fast paced technology.

Someone told me that there is no normal job in this world. Every job will have something that you hate and it is how you change your perspectives to make things work out. I now realized that this is very true. Looking back, I sometimes wished that I had studied something that is more specific. I wished I had developed some skills to use photoshop or some other softwares. It would be good to have some know-hows. I need to know what I wish to do in future when I was young. I could have played more sports or even picked up an instrument. Maybe I could pursue a career through a talent I have. At least my job would be more interesting. Yet, I was only studying. Studying hard so I can get a good job next time.

Then, look at me now.  

Daiso Soft Clay

After a lesson with Kin, my interest in clay crafts begins! I saw quite a number of youtube videos on Daiso soft clay and I decided to try it. Omg $2 only and you get a huge chunk. Daiso soft clay is said to be paper clay, and it really is very light. It feels very soft and some moisture can be felt on your hands when you knead the clay.

Togi 71 Korean Restaurant

Boyfriend's birthday dinner.

The location is convenient as it is near Chinatown mrt station. It has a very authentic Korean place ambience. 

The side dishes were okay. The Jajangmyeon is a little too sweet and doesn't smell that appetising. I have only ate Jajangmyeon once, in Korea, and I recalled it tasting less strong. The bibimbap is very wet even though only an adequate amount of chilli paste is added. The seafood pancake is kind of disappointing as compared to the one I had in Korea. It taste less crispy and is more of fishcake rather than pancake texture. The dumpling is okay too but I think you can buy the frozen ones from Ntuc.

Their service is good though. And they offered to mix the bibimbap and jajangmyeon for us. 

This is a rather short and negative post. I was probably expecting more.

Kin's Miniature Workshop

While I was planning what to do on my boyfriend's birthday, I came across this website, Kin's Miniature, whereby one time workshop for clay crafts is available! This sounds really fun for a one time event and a couple-do-it-together activity. I was interested in the self image making at $120 per 2 pax. Kin doesn't provide a phone number so I contacted her through the contact-me form two weeks earlier. Her replies were prompt and I managed to get a timeslot on his actual birthday. To confirm my slot, I transferred the payment to her bank account. 

The place is located at Chinatown, near the mrt station. But we had a difficult time reaching our destination. There isn't a clear sign of where her shop is because it is located within a Canon shop (should be Canon)! I had to call her before I know where it was. Her office is a really small and modest room. And frankly speaking, her work area is really messy! Nothing like a professional haha. 

Before she started, she looked at our outfit and appearance and asked us whether we want our clay image to wear the same colours as we were then. It is a big mistake to agree to my bf clay wearing white, and good thing I changed my clay dress to pink rather than black. She gives us step by step instructions and shows us how to do it. We use air dry clay which would dry naturally without baking. This is good for people who doesn't want another oven to bake polymer clays specifically. We mixed the beige colour oil paint into the resin clay and formed the heads. Using a straw, we poked the shape of the mouths, deeply, as the clay will bounce out once dried. 

The body was already pre-made by Kin, like a long oval shaped beige clay stuck on the toothpick. The shirt and pants are then wrapped around it. (After that I realized that the body clay is made of resin clay which dries harder than the soft clay used for clothing, hence it provides some hard support. Soft clay seems to stick permanent on resin clay, once touched, you won't be able to separate it.) I shouldn't have used white as his top because it is plain looking and it gets dirty easily, which it did. 

One of the fun parts is the attaching of hair to the head. Bf got it worse because female hair is more troublesome. By the way, the pink dress is made from mixing pink soft clay and white soft clay. Somehow, she didn't use paint mixture for this. 

After you stick the hair at the back, you need to attach strand by strand for the front and also pull the side burns down. Because the white top looks plain, I drew on it using a pen. (I don't think we should use a pen because it will smudge when you glaze it. That's why she told us not to varnish the pen parts.) The shoes are blue to add more colours! Haha. The feet look huge for the body. Kin gave us two hearts and I decided to attach it on the bodies to add some colour. She said that every couple's clay doll is unique and that I was the only one who attached the heart on the clay doll itself. 

Look at my currypok hair! So nice! And you can't see the ribbon at the back. It was actually very nice but it become flattened after we knead and press during adjustments. 

Kin's work on display in her workplace. To get colours so realistic, I think it is quite a challenge!

Overall, I think the workshop is great for first-timers, especially because you do not have to commit for more lessons. The self image clay making is challenging enough, let alone the food miniatures. Kin is a really friendly and patient lady too. However, I don't think the workshop is very professionally conducted so this may disappoint you. The space of the room is also quite small but sufficient for two students. The whole learning process is a little alienating because we were both focused on making our own clay. This could have been better if we were learning and making the same item. It was a memorable experience for us nevertheless :).

By the way, you can see our photos on Kin's website too hahaha.

Tomato Egg

This time, I am following this youtube video on how to cook tomato egg!

It is really a yummy and no-hassle dish. 

To prepare:

2 tomatoes

4 eggs

oil

1 tsp salt

1.5 tsp sugar

and that is all. Oh my gosh it is so simple. 

1) Cut tomatoes into 1/8. Whisk the eggs evenly, adding in some salt and pepper to taste. Add adequate amount of oil in the wok and swirl it around. 

[I am not sure if you can gauge from the picture but it is probably about two tablespoons. In the video, it also stated 2 tablespoon of oil but it looks like there is a lot more. This prevents the egg from sticking to the pan.]

2) Once the oil is heated, pour in the egg. After it is cooked up till 50% done, you can cut and stir the egg into smaller pieces. Push them to the side of the wok.

[Apparently, the lady can make the egg swirl in the wok. I think it's due to the amount of oil used, because the egg was stuck in my wok. Do not stir the eggs too quickly, if not it won't have the nice browning taste.]

3) Add in the chopped tomatoes and stir-fry a little. Sprinkle the salt, and then sugar onto the tomatoes. Stir fry the tomatoes to mix well.

[According to the video, adding the seasoning to the tomato itself gives it the flavour, coming out from the juice it produces. Adding the seasoning to the egg would make it more salty.]

4) Mix the egg and tomatoes together. Cover the lid and simmer for about a minute.

[I added a little water to make the dish slightly more moist. In the video, it produced more gravy, which might be due to the oil.]

The end result: delicious egg flavoured with sweet and sour tomato goodness.

The picture looks ugly but don't judge it by its appearance!

Fast Exercise

I borrowed this book called "Fast Exercise [by Dr Michael Mosley with Peta Bee]" from the library recently, and I wish I had read this much earlier! Do you get a clue what this book is about judging from the title?

This book describes the benefits of high intensity training [HIT] and all the related researches done on it. The many benefits includes better aerobic fitness, endurance, reduced body fat, increased strength and better insulin sensitivity. It also mentioned about intermittent fasting [Fast Diet] and as we all know, diet and exercise are complementary.

Previously, I wrote about my jogging experience and just as I thought all my effort were wasted, the book explained that exercising for a longer duration has its advantages still. It is better for our general and mental health but how much of moderate exercise is enough? It stated that many of us don't even do 2.5 hours of moderate activities per week, and that is so true given that I don't run very long. 

The book provides explanations on why weight loss cannot be obtained by going long and slow [moderate but long duration of exercise]. We do not burn much fats this way unless we do a lot and a lot. We can easily consume back that 200 calories we just lost. After we go for a long workout, somehow we feel more tired and our bodies are tricked into thinking that we have burnt a lot and we need more food. We also think that since we require energy to exercise, we should eat up first. 

In the past, the hunter gatherers were much more active than we are. Given our work requirements now, many people have become sedentary. The hunter gatherers as I have learnt during university do very intense work like climbing trees, chopping wood, hunting for food. However, they spend the rest of their time resting a lot too.

"We benefit from short bursts of intense activity and we need rest days to recover or we undo all the good work."

Research also seems to show that HIT curbs the appetite and you are less likely to feel more hungry and tired as compared to a long duration exercise. I put this to the test and it really is the case. Because I do short burst of fast run, I don't spend so much time exercising and persevering, I feel less tired overall.

HIT seems like a very risky and dangerous thing to try. Like if your heart beat goes too fast or if you sprain your ankles. Personally, I think it is very strenuous on my feet when I sprint. The muscles feel tighter than usual. That is why the rest has to come in. Strangely, the research reveals that HIT is more effective in terms of recovery for people with chronic diseases like heart failure as compared to the conventional way of exercising.

The book outlines the different types of exercise we can do with intensity. They have several methods and timings to follow accordingly. Exercises aimed to train our muscles can also be done with intensity. It is suggested that late afternoon to early evening is the best time to exercise. It is hardest to perform in the morning because our body temperature is at the lowest when we wake up, that is no wonder I cannot get myself to run in the morning. It is also best to fix a consistent standard time for exercise so we will follow through with more discipline. 

One of the concluding points is that we also need to be more active on an overall basis! This is not exercising. It is how much we move around rather than being seated all the time. The busy-working-face-laptop-always lifestyle is making us forget that we have been sitting for too long. It is time to add more movement into our daily life. Start standing up while on the train or walk up an escalator. Take small steps at first and slowly increase.  

And I really mean it, to start everything little by little. I have pulled a muscle some time ago after trying their high intensity workout. The doctor told me that I need to stretch, warm up and warm down. Really important! It has been about two months since I first started this. I haven't really see much weight loss [say about 1kg so far as my weight keeps fluctuating] but I'm not giving up just yet. Of course, weight loss can come from other factors and not 100% a result of HIT workouts. 

This is such a time efficient exercise and you would probably feel less lazy to workout! You might want to grab this book and give this a shot :D.
 

Etude House Eye's Cream

I wanted to find an eye cream with SPF to protect my undereye area and eye lids on those days I don't have my make up on. Those face moisturizers (mine with SPF), as I have read online, are too strong for the eye area. So, my eyes are often not protected if I don't put my foundation (with SPF) on. Even if I'm covered by my make-up, it's probably still not enough protection from the sun. I'm not really looking for dark eye rings reducer because I have given up on it. And I am not looking at those expensive branded eye creams. I just wanted something suitable for the eye and provides protection from the sun.

so this is it!

This cute little thing, called the eye's cream, is mint "flavoured". Once applied, your eye area feels comfy and cooling. But that only last for maybe two seconds hahaha. It's like a gluestick, no gel no cream, so I am not sure whether am I applying anything on my eyes or not. It just feels slightly sticky (but not to worry). So I am not sure how much coverage I have on my eyes, like whether have I applied enough or not.

I bought this quite a awhile ago and really, there's not much effect on my dark eye rings. However, it might be because there is generally less blood circulation around my eyes due to nose allergy, and just a cream would not solve the root problem. I bought it at $18.90 which is quite affordable. It is sweet smelling and it is convenient for application [though I would rather the stick's circumference be smaller]. Most of all, it is such a cute product!

Give it a try! Just for the fun :D.

Spicy Basil Minced Chicken

I saw a video demonstration of this delicious Thai dish and I wanted to give it a try as it looks simple enough. My first try kind of failed as I have used too little seasoning. It wasn't wet enough, probably because I didn't add shallots which would produce some water. Also, my minced meat ended up in chunks! It was still okay and edible though.

I showed my mum the video and she demonstrated how to cook this dish hahaha. The below ingredients and seasoning amount is only my estimate. She goes by her feel in terms of how much sauce should be added, which is also what I usually do.

Ingredients:

About 300gm minced chicken

Some shallots

Some garlic

4 chilli padi

About 10 basil leaves

Seasoning:

Dash of pepper

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp sweet dark soy sauce

1. Cut the shallots and garlic into small pieces. Remove the seeds of the chilli and cut them into small pieces. [if you want it less spicy, without the seeds is already quite spicy. Eating the seeds is going to be spicy like mad]. Chop basil leaves into smaller pieces. 

2. In a wok, heat the oil and swirl it in a circular motion to cover the sides. Oil should be sufficient as minced meat tend to stick to the surface. Add in shallots and then garlic. 

3. Put in the minced chicken and stir fry it continuously, breaking it into small pieces at the same time. The trick to the small pieces of minced chicken is really to keep moving the spatula to cut the thick chunks into smaller ones. Add in the seasoning above. Taste to see if more seasoning is required. 

4. Stir in the chilli padi and lastly, the basil leaves.

This is really a nice and simple dish to go with rice. As my basil minced chicken doesn't have a lot of basil taste, it taste more like chinese food haha!

>.<