Eat Play Love

It was my turn to bring the girls out for Mystery Makan, and I decided to bring them to Eat Play Love after reading about it on a magazine!

Eat Play Love is like a craft cafe, where you can have food PLUS play with crafts. Beside tables for dining, there are craft corners, mainly for kids I think. For a small fee, the cafe will provide a wide variety of miscellaneous materials for kids to stretch their creativity! It's a really great idea for parents who want to bring out the arty side of their kids without messing their own homes! For adults, we can create some shrink art accessories!

Career Change

One of the biggest change I had this year, was a career change. I resigned from my previous job in May without looking for a new job first. Reason was that I really needed a break.

I have been working in my previous company for 3 years and I had a reasonably good position for my age but the responsibility that came along with it was also a little overwhelming. Towards the end of my 3 years in that job, I was constantly worrying even after work time (about making mistakes or forgetting things), depressingly fretting over Mondays on Sunday mornings, and working even in my dreams!

To be honest, I learnt ALOT with my previous boss. Probably more than I would ever have if I worked somewhere else. I saw the harsh reality of how people are always respectful to people of higher status and looking down on people of lower levels. Overall, I loved the job scope, but I also hated some parts that came along with it. If only I had the freedom to delegate whatever I didn't want to do to other staffs. Haha.

After quitting, I didn't start to look for another job yet even though my parents were worried. I just wanted to slack and relax with my new-found free time which I didn't have for some months. Then I started feeling guilty about spending all my days at home, I started sending resumes.

While searching for a job, I realized that I do not know what I really wanted. I am already 23 and not knowing what I wanted to do was a big issue. I knew I wanted to travel and blog, I knew I wanted to open my own business. But these dreams are made of lots of money and it's highly unlikely to find a job opening like that.

I didn't want to find another job that was similar to what I was doing before, as the industry is small and I didn't want to seem like a betrayer. So I was really starting from zero! Finally, I decided to sign up for jobs which I am confident I could excel in. I want to go to work happily and without stress.

I landed myself an easy-peasy job in the end, two actually. I went for an interview in the morning and another interview in the afternoon. I got both job offers immediately after the interview. I had a choice of lower salary but just 5 minutes away from home, and higher salary but longer distance. The work scope was around the same.

In the end I chose the higher salary one because it was a bigger company. I have never worked for a company this big before. I now have around 200 colleagues, and most of them are young people. I have more motivation to dress up and put on make up for work now!

After people knew my background, they questioned what I was doing in a simple job like this which was irrelevant to my degree and past working experience. Well, I took up this job based on what was important to me. When looking for a job, I wanted work-life balance more than money or status. I really very honestly told the interviewers that I was looking for an easy job which allows me to leave on time! Hahaha. It sounds like such a lazy trait!

So anyway, I was enjoying myself so much in my job and after two months with no Monday blues, my HR director recently transferred me to a new position of a totally different job scope. New responsibility, new desk, new beginnings. This new position is of course "better" than my previous simple job, but wayyyyyyyyyyy more work. Haha. Hope I will enjoy my new role and continue to have no Monday blues!

W.39 Bistro & Bakery

Weekends are most special to me because it's probably the only time that me and my boyfriend gets to go on a leisure date! We do meet on weekdays but he just brings me home from work. Very seldom we have dinner together during weekdays, so not counted!

One fine weekend, we decided to head to the west with his friend to have dinner at W.39 Bistro & Bakery!

I wore this sweet blue dress which I found in a random stall at Bugis Street. I fell in love with it but didn't buy it at first. After going around other stalls, I finally went back to purchase it as I couldn't get my mind off this piece!

I paired the blue with beige and light tones. Gonna wear it with black accessories next time for a different feel!



Me like the decor of this place! Can you spot me in the photo below?


I feel that the choices on the menu was quite limited, but we finally made our decisions!


I ordered Ice Lemon Tea ($3.50) because I was very thirsty that day and Ice Lemon Tea  is always refreshing. Both of them had the Ribena Lemon Twist ($4.50). I correctly predicted that my bf will definitely order this drink because this was the only "unique" non-alcoholic drink on the menu. . I expected the Ribena Lemon Twist to be lime juice with Ribena, but actually it's a gassy drink of Ribena and Soda. Not bad!


Baked Portobello Mushroom ($10)... It wasn't the kind that we expected, but it tasted not bad lah. However, I do feel that for a casual bistro, it was kinda expensive for 7 tiny chunks.


Cold Cuts ($15.00) consisting of Baguette, German Salami, Chorizo, and Parma Ham. Not my type of food, but probably suitable for those having alcohol with the food! Many tables near us had alcohol to pair with their food and that was probably the main draw of this place.


My favorite chicken wings! It is called Crispy Chicken Winglets with Chilli Dip ($8.50), but it was not really crispy when it arrive on our table. BUT it was very tasty, like prawn paste chicken. Love it!


Confit of Duck Leg, Mash, Aragula Salad ($19.50). I like it! Crispy on the outside and soft inside.


Baked Lamb Ribs, Cucumber Yoghurt Salad, Fries ($24.00). This dish is sooooo good! Fat and oily though, for health-conscious people. But really yums. The salad is actually thin cucumber stripes and yoghurt. Quite interesting, but probably works better as a dip for fried karaage instead of side salad.


Red Velvet Cake ($4.80). I must gush about this!!!! It's probably the best Red Velvet Cake I have ever eaten. This was also what inspired me to make Red Velvet Cake that day and this was what I visioned it be like. The cream between the layers paired well with the soft yummy cake. It was AWESOME.


Bf ordered a Triple Chocolate Cake ($6.80) afterwards. Not bad, but eating a cake like this after having that Red Velvet Cake? Pales in comparison.


Overall I rate W.39 as a place you should visit one day! :D

K-Palette 24-hour Real Lasting Eyeliner

In the past, I never liked using liquid eyeliner because it is more difficult to apply than "crayon" eyeliners. The first time I used liquid eyeliner, I remember how the black liquid went into my eye and my whole eye-white turned black instantly. It was a scary experience but after that and using it everyday, I gradually fell in love with liquid eyeliner. I finished using my previous liquid eyeliner in awhile and went back to using "crayon" eyeliner. Just as I finished it too (hahaha, I use a lot of eyeliner on my eyes so my eyeliner always run out very fast), K-Palette sent me their REAL LASTING EYELINER.



Isn't the packaging cute? Pastel coloured hearts and ribbon, a limited edition by K-Palette!


Smooth and easy application, intense jet black color, instant-dry liquid, and a very fine tip. Lines drawn using this eyeliner are very defined! What's their best selling point is that this eyeliner is very lasting. No risk of smudging even when I head out from morning till late at night!


The eyeliner is available at Sasa stores ($19.90).

Red Velvet Cake

Over the weekend, I baked a red velvet cake with my boyfriend and my sister helped out! Reason why I chose to bake a red velvet cake is because we found a bag of near-expiry baking ingredients in my kitchen and a container of cocoa powder was one of them. Haha.

My cake turned out awesome! Although the skin was a little charred, the inside was fluffy, moist, and yum!

The icing failed though. Heart pain! The cream cheese is not cheap yet I have to throw away most of it because the texture turned out rough. I wonder why my icing always fail one, it also failed when I used another recipe previously.

Well, here's the recipe for the cake!

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

360g sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon fine salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of baking soda
40g cocoa powder
4 tablespoons red food coloring
4 tablespoons water
230g butter
400g sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
250g buttermilk

ICING INGREDIENTS (This is the recipe I used for the icing but it failed for me. I mixed all the ingredients with electric mixer. Not sure if it will work for you. Else you can find other icing recipes online!):

170g butter
480g cream cheese
400g powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk

BAKING TIME!

YOU KNOW WHAT, as I am typing this, I realize that the original recipe wrote 350°F.... and not 350°C. Zzzzzzzzzz NO WONDER MY CAKE SKIN CHAOTAH.

So anyway, I tuned my oven to 240°C because that was my oven maximum. Totally over by around 60+ degrees. Haha.

1. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda
2. Mix cocoa powder, food coloring, water
3. Beat butter using electric mixer. Add sugar in slowly so that it can be blended into the butter evenly. Remember to scrape the sides of the bowl. Then, add eggs in one at a time. Add vanilla and add the cocoa powder mixture.
4. Add half of the flour mixture, pour buttermilk, then the rest of the flour.
5. Divide batter between two round cake pans (remember to coat with butter so that the cake won't stick to the pan). Bake in oven for 30 minutes. When a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, remove from over and cool cake on a rack.
6. Spread icing on top of one of the layer, then put another layer on top of it. If you like, you can cover the whole cake!

My original recipe was a lot more complicated but I have simplified it for you all! Have fun!

Ad: SHOPOHSS

It has been a rainy season and the weather is especially cold, so it was with good timing that this ShopOHSS long sleeve top arrived in my mailbox some days back!

Few days back, I wore this comfy white top for a simple day out with bf to watch movie, buy groceries and then back home to bake a red velvet cake. You can't see clearly from this photo, but the sleeves are actually semi-translucent! It's very stylish and cute at the same time!

If you like it too, you can get one from http://www.shopohss.com/ and you are entitled to free registered mail just by quoting "EstherXie" in an email to shopohss@gmail.com with your order number after payment! Special offer valid only till 31st October :)

I have placed a banner for them at my side bar, so do check back often for other trendy clothes!

Do like them on facebook as well: https://www.facebook.com/shopOHSS
Shop: http://www.shopohss.com/

Dating Day!

This is going to be a long entry! One fine weekend, me and my boyfriend didn't have any errands to run so we had the whole day free to date!

First and foremost, outfit photo~ Nothing special lah, just blue themed! I bought quite a number of new dresses but I have been too lazy to iron so at the moment I am still repeating my old dresses quite regularly. Haha.