♥¤.¸¸.·☆Bear Bear Diary★·.¸¸.¤♥

Moving on

2012-02-03T14:40:00.000+08:00

Just another doodle of mine.

Cut bangs in DIY style

2012-02-01T00:22:00.000+08:00

Finally I remembered to take pictures of my DIY haircut. I've been cutting my bangs for years, after many trials and errors, I've learned to cut my bangs effortlessly and perfectly just the way I wanted. I like my bangs to be "flexible", I mean I like it to be straight, yet can be swept to the side at the same time.

Here's how I did it:

1. Tie a ponytail and comb your fringe down.

2. Divide your fringe in a V shape pattern by clipping the amount of hair that you want to keep at both sides of your head.

3. Cut the hair in the V shape that you've just created, remember to hold your scissors in a slanted angle or 45 degrees as shown in the 3rd picture.

4. Don't cut the layers too short at one time , you should always check and adjust the length of your bansg before the second attempt.

5. When you're done, let your ponytail down and sweep your bangs to the side, see if the bangs are in your desired shape and length.

6. I usually trim my bangs about the same level of my eyes or sometimes slightly above my eyes, but never above my eyebrows!

Have fun snipping!!!

New Year's outings

2012-01-31T20:33:00.002+08:00

Once every year, we would visit River Hong Bao and Sentosa Flower festival. Well, all because of my "routine freak" Lg. He said: "I've made it our tradition!" Hah!

The day we went to River Hong Bao, we dressed really casually, blame it on the gloomy weather. At the end of the day, we both looked at each other and said: "It's new year, why are we so underdressed?"

So the next day went to Sentosa Flowers, we both dressed up a little! It's megasuperduper crowded.

Still, Lg managed to capture some spontaneous shots of me! He was pretty contented and we left soon after that. So mission accomplished!

Patterns of Trade: Indian Textiles For Export

2012-01-31T18:15:00.002+08:00

We went to the exhibition Patterns of Trade: Indian Textiles For Export 1400–1900 at Asian Civilisations Museum on the very first day of Lunar New Year.

Nowadays I've been rushing myself to collect more knowledge and inspirations. So it doesn't matter when and which exhibition is on, as long as I have spare time, I would like to visit any exhibition.

Little did I know, these textiles from the exhibition were decorated with striking patterns that fascinated me to look at the collection closely in details.

“There is one thing one has to have: either a soul that is cheerful by nature, or a soul made cheerful by work, love, art, and knowledge.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche ~

Recipes from our sisters

2012-01-29T21:32:00.001+08:00

After our trip from Taiwan, I've learned some recipes from our sisters.

Abalone porridge, recipe from first sister.

The way she cooked this porridge is totally different from my usual porridge. This is how I cooked it with the new recipe:

Ingredients: Cooked rice, chopped garlic, chopped celery, sliced mushrooms, minced meat, sliced abalone.

First, cook rice by rice cooker while preparing ingredients for the stir fry. Soak mushrooms and wash them. Stir fry mushrooms with chopped garlic until fragant, add finely chopped celery and saute all together. Add water and boil for a while, add cooked rice then simmer in small fire for about 15 minutes, add minced meat and sliced abalone last and boil for another 5 to 10 minutes. My husband love this new dish so much that he finished two big bowls of porridge.

Braised meat and eggs, recipe from third sister.

I was addicted to her braised meat dish when I was there and was surprised by how easy she cooked it. I was so excited to cook this dish when I got back to Singapore. How I cooked:

Ingredient: meat (pork belly), eggs, peeled garlic, soy sauce, mirin, sake.

Place eggs and sliced meat in a cooking pot, add soy sauce, the amount of soy sauce must be equal to half amount of the meat in the pot, also add 1 tablespoon of mirin, 1 tablespoon of sake, 1 teaspoon of sugar, peeled garlic. Then simmer in small fire for about 1 to 2 hours, depending on the amount of meat. Simple way to cook delicous braised meat.

Stir fried spinach with scallop sauce, recipe from third sister.

This is really simple and the delicous taste came from the scallop sauce that my sister bought for me in Taiwan. Just stir fry veggie and add the sauce last.

Taiwan 2012 part 3

2012-01-19T19:46:00.002+08:00

We bought tickets to somewhere out of Taipei, we woke up early to catch the bullet train at 7:00 am. The train was very comfortable and I fell asleep for 45 mintures before we reached Tai Chung station.

Took a bus from the train station to Aboriginal Village, slept for another hour again to charge my energy!

I was excited to visit the villages because of the One Piece exhibition there. To my surprise, it was not crowded and I was happy that I could take many pictures with the exhibits without squeezing with the crowd.

I love One Piece's characters as they are very funny!

We played a few games at the outdoor park before leaving for the Aboriginal Village.

While going through some villages, I realized we weren't in the real villages, I stared at my Lg sulking: "You told me we're gonna visit some aboriginal villages but these are not real, where are the villagers?" He answered me: "I don't know, maybe they migrated somewhere else? How about you treat it as visiting some museums?" So there we go, we were visiting Aboriginal museum.

After all, I still like the serenity moments walking with my husband and eventually I still meet one or two "villagers" at souvenir shops or eateries.

All of a sudden, Lg pointed to me:"There, I found the villagers!" I saw a performance that a group of tourists were watching. The performance was heart thumping as I liked the sound of drums.

We headed to the Sun Moon Lake by cable car after walking around the Aboriginal Village. While shopping for confectionery I saw a parrot. I thought it looked alike to the villain, an evil bird named Nigel in the Rio movie. But when I said "Hello" to it, it replied "Hello" in a soft and sweet voice that amazed me!

After our cable car ride, I was upset a little as I couldn't see the beauty of Sun Moon Lake because the weather was gloomy that day. So the best part of our Sun Moon Lake journey was walking on the trails and snacking on street food. We happened to meet a cute doggy that kept following me and the funny thing was I could command it to sit down and when I was about to leave the place, I told him "Do not follow anymore" and he did stop following me.

We took a ferry ride to Tai Chung city, followed by a bus and bullet train back to Taipei!

The next day, we went to the "From Up On Poppy Hill - Original Art" Exhibition at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park. The exhibition was a wonderful experience for me as this was the first time I've seen my favourite artist's original artworks. Even though photography was not allowed inside the gallery but only at the poster section.

On the way out, we saw some ducks huddling near a pond! I stood next to them and watched them for a while, they seemed not to mind my presence! Hahaha, yeah, little things always lift my mood.

Walking towards 101 building in a drizzle and tried to capture some images of Taipei. Had a simple meal with Lg there and walked to Shinkong shopping mall after that for some shopping.

The last few days in Taipei we spent more time with our nephews and stayed at home often.

All good things come to an end, on our day of departure, I already missed this home and all of our sisters and their families.

I didn't forget to hug and say goodbye to Jing Jing too.

On our flight back to Singapore, our food on the plane were surperb as always and our flight attendants were very helpful. To make my trip even more perfect, Lg was so sweet that he picked out a pendant from the Kris Shop for me. A little token that made my heart melt!

I was so grateful to have this trip with Lg, there's many incidents that couldn't be captured in pictures but forever remain in my heart as well as moments that were shared with our sisters in laughters and even tears. All the time, I felt loved. I'm so glad that I have a second family that is so dear to me!

Taiwan 2012 part 2

2012-01-18T00:46:00.001+08:00

Like a tradition, whenever we come to Taiwan, we like to eat at Ya Rou Bian restaurant in Xi Men Ding and buy braised food like duck tongues, duck wings at Lao Tian Lu store there.

We had an absolutely mouth-watering afternoon tea at Wedgwood Tearoom with our sisters. I love love love the scones, I've never tasted scones as good as these. It's a privilege for any customer to have tea there, because each table was served with different patterned tableware, ours was served in a royal blue set! My favourite shade of blue!!! I love this place.

Since we were at the top level of Sogo shopping mall, I took some pictures with the indoor garden there.

We went to Guang Hua Plaza, this place is where you can find all the IT gadgets, computer and game related stuff! We bought a lot of Blue Ray movies which the prices were much cheaper than those in Singapore, I got my camera bag at a good price too!

On the way taking the train home, I saw these wall displays! I really liked them! And oh, I have to mention about how civilized Taipei people were!!! Everyone was standing in line waiting for the train or on the escalator, also nobody rushed to the priority seats on the train.

The next day, we ate at an Italian restaurant call Lucca Pasta with out first sister and it's super delicious! My favorite pasta place so far!

Went to Maokong with first sister's family but unfortunately it's pouring rain after our cable car ride. Nonetheless we had a memorable moment chatting, drinking tea and eating hot baked sweet potatoes, that tasted so sweet like honey!

Went to Jing Hua City with my husband, apparently I find this place is super boring! Almost no one wants to go there, but my husband insisted to visit there every time we come to Taiwan and he had to drag me along.

Had a sumptuous sushi dinner that made us queue for almost 45 minutes. But it's worth it! I would love to eat sushi there again and again!

Another thing I love in Taiwan is their fresh fruit juices, it's cheap and rich taste from fresh fruit without adding water, I drink fresh fruit juice almost twice a day when I was there, it's totally different taste from Singapore fruit juice, not watery or foamy, plus I didn't have to pay 50 cents or 1 dollar extra when asked for less ice.

I've experienced the tedious heavy traffic to get home after New Year countdown before. So we got home early on New Year's eve and watched small fireworks from our balcony. Beautiful nonetheless!

When to Bitan on a light rainy day! The weather didn't affect our mood as we were with our sister's family!!!

We had lunch at Waterfront restaurant as our nephews were intrigued by the barbecue racks! It's a recommended place to eat out at Bitan! Superb food!

Tightened our life jackets and we were off to the swan boat!

It was a delightfully fun day! I will always remember all our trips with our families!

Walked along the Bitan bridge and ate lots of street food! I love my nephews, as I watched them grow taller year by year, I'm glad that I didn't feel old at all!

Had dinner at Alice Steak House, grand courses!

I shall end my part 2 here! Will blog again soon!

Taiwan 2012 part 1

2012-01-16T22:57:00.002+08:00

So we traveled to Taiwan again! Almost every year and I still love to go back there anytime. My love for this country is not only for their food or their culture, most importantly it's because of the bond with our sisters and their families. Every time I come to Taiwan, it's like coming home! Warm and feeling loved! Memories captured in pictures. So here I let my pictures summarize my trip!
We slept for only 3 hours before we went to Changi airport. Both of us were really tired but excited! I couldn't resist the pretty decorations at the airport so I took some pictures with them.

After we did some shopping at duty-free shops, we checked out the SIA Silver Kris Lounge just before our flight. I became a glutton when I saw a wide range of food there. My husband kept reminding me not to stuff myself.

Our seats on Business Class this time was totally different from the last time we took. The seat covers are leather and very spacious yet more private, thus more comfortable!

We requested Book the Cook meals and the dishes tasted delicious!

Right after we arrived at Taipei, our first sister and their family picked us up and treated us to the nicest steamboat restaurant in town. I was amazed by how much food I could eat. It's like my stomach has no bottom.

We visited our first sister's house the next day and they brought us to a very expensive restaurant with fabulous food, to celebrate Lg's birthday.

We strolled around Breeze Center for shopping after that and I found many cute and funny stuff at Hands Tailung store.

Went to Hakka Village to settle some personal matter and it turned out to be a very awesome trip for us. We spent the whole day together with all of our sisters.

The first time that I actually shopped and walked along the food street in Hakka Village. I got to know more about Hakka specialties and tasted their awesome traditional dishes.

We visited a temple there and all of us got a chance to pray for our blessings.

Coincidentally my husband and I picked the same inscribed bamboo stick. So we're really fated!
All of us took a ride in second sister's car back to her house.

She brought us to a super pretty cafe. Afternoon tea has became my favourite thing, influenced by our sisters.

Saw the Color Changing Bridge in Xin Dian and I insisted to walk there. It was a peaceful night and romantic somehow!

Will blog again soon next time!

Gerhard Richter inspiration

2012-01-16T20:46:00.001+08:00

I read about Gerhard Richter in The Sunday Times and from that article, his million dollar artworks were described as "look deceptive simple, like a printer's colour chart, frequently commands top dollar at auction."

I'm really amazed by how the art world revolved today and how others appreciate art pieces.

Anyway I'm inspired by his artworks and from now on I shall just focus to make my crappy paintings look more like crap instead of perfecting the lines and strokes!!!

I shall remind myself not to throw away any unfinished crappy painting like this but to continue working on it!

These images will be my new inspiration to paint! I'm serious!

Welcome New Year!

2012-01-15T02:25:00.002+08:00

Another year has passed and a new year has come!

Year 2011 was a wonderful year for me and in this new year, I will continue working hard towards my dream, pursue it and never give it up!

Anyway, it's a Saturday again! I went out to take photos of Chinatown in the New Year atmosphere.

We spent our afternoon strolling around Chinatown! I was excited, still and always be! I wish the weather could be cooler. After staying in Taiwan for two weeks, I really loved the cold there. I will blog about my Taiwan trip soon.

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!

1 more week!

2011-12-18T21:47:00.002+08:00

Only 7 more days to our Taiwan trip!!!!

I thought of not wanting to travel anywhere this year. But since we have to go back to Taiwan for some personal matters, we might as well make it our holiday trip!

I'm looking forward to this trip because we're going to take the Business Class on Singapore Airlines again, we did it once on our trip to Vietnam! All thanks to Lg's KrisFlyer points redeemption!

I've already done packing our luggage! I plan to go to the airport early this time to shop more and check out the SIA SilverKris Lounge that I didn't manage to do so last time.

Santa Xiao Bai

2011-12-07T22:11:00.001+08:00

It's Christmas season!!! Xiao Bai was dressed in a Santa hat and a scarf, he didn't shake the hat off, he liked it! I'm very happy that Xiao Bai is in good health and active at the age of thirteen. He is the sweetest pet I've ever had!

These photos were taken by Olympus Pen E-P3 with Art Filter in Soft Focus mode.

Christmas at Orchard 2011

2011-12-05T19:54:00.002+08:00

Last weekend I went to Orchard to enjoy the "Christmas Blooms in Singapore", this year's Christmas light up theme and also to take more pictures with my Pen E-P3. I super love this camera! It's so easy to use and the image quality is excellent!
The Christmas decorations at Orchard Road this year are so pretty!!!

I love how detailed the image looked when taken with Pen E-P3.

Some pictures of me with my Pen E-P3, taken by my old Sony TX1.

I dressed up my Pen E-P3 with its leather case and it has already become a centre of attraction wherever I go.

It's kinda early but I'd still like to say Merry Christmas everyone!

My new camera

2011-11-29T20:38:00.007+08:00

I got an early Christmas present from my Lg! It's an Olympus Pen E-P3 bundled with two lens. It was after months of research and consideration to get the most suitable camera for me to upgrade from a point and shoot camera. I still love my TX1 but I've always wanted to own a vintage retro looking camera.

Fujifilm FinePix X100 was my first choice, but I withdrew the idea of having one after reading reviews on some forums that X100 is a quirky and complicated camera with all the manual settings that's only fit for a pro but I'm not!

The price of Fujifilm X100 is ridiculously expensive, I thought of buying a DSLR camera instead! Canon EOS 600D was what I thought of. The alternate name for Canon EOS 600D is Canon Rebel or Canon Kiss, it sounded pretty cool and girlish! But Lg is super dreadful towards DSLRs as they're bulky and he hated the ego that comes with it. He often told me a DSLR looked lame and pretentious on a person that doesn't know how to use it well.

He did his research and suggested me to look at Olympus Pen E-P3. I wasn't convinced with the Pen series at first, especially the new E-P3 because of its price tag. We argued several times over this, because I stubbornly thought that I would rather get a 600D with the price of E-P3 .

But I changed my mind after one incident when I was trying my hands on 600D. I noticed their rubberized grip being torn and hanging loosely on the camera. Then the sale's assistant told me because 600D body is reinforced polycarbonate so this would happen sooner or later. After umpteenth times of comparing different types of cameras again. I concluded the Olympus Pen E-P3 suited me best! Even with its sturdy magnesium alloy chassis, it's smaller to carry around than 600D, it has a retro look like X100 but easier to handle.

I'm very long winded here, but I just want to sort out my thoughts and get myself ready to cope with this new camera and promise to use it well with its manual functions.

I'm excited to dress up my camera with its accessories like matching leather skin, leather case and my favorite is their Leather Cooper bag. I'm still waiting for these.

These are some pictures I took with my new Pen E-P3. The settings were in I-Auto mode and I'm pleased with their image qualities.

These were taken in some art filter modes like Soft Focus, Diorama, Light & Pale and Pop Art. There are 36 art filters, I'm very amazed!

The more I interacted with this camera, the more I felt in love with its super easy to handle character. It's so effortless and enjoyable without any frustration over too complicated manual handling to produce beautiful pictures. I'm happy with my choice and grateful for having it from my Lg!

Painting on an eggshell

2011-11-25T15:16:00.001+08:00

Last time I mentioned in this post that I've got a chance to paint on an eggshell but I didn't show the full view of my artwork then. So here it is!

This eggshell painting was completed in a rush of time with limited colors, I used mainly 3 colors in this. It's a lovely lotus pond with scenery and warm sky! I didn't have time to think of what I wanted to paint, it's a spontaneous picture developed by itself again.

Spontaneous Watercolor

2011-11-25T14:31:00.000+08:00

Finally a practice piece that I really like! I'm learning to build up my patience and let go of a terrible character of mine which is getting disappointed at myself easily.

I like to paint without a sketch, I like to watch the movement in watercolor and see it form a picture by itself. This piece was a spontaneous picture of few strokes that make a waterfall and some paint sprayed to create blossoms.

Elephant Parade at Tangs Orchard

2011-11-20T01:52:00.008+08:00

While shopping around Tangs, I was attracted by their glittering Christmas deco with colorful elephant statues displayed around.

I followed these elephant's path and they led me to a shop with many different painted and decorated elephants that made me go "Wow!!!"

These belong to "The Elephant Parade: the world’s largest open air art exhibition of decorated elephant statues that seeks to attract public awareness and support for Asian elephant conservation".

I initially wanted to buy some elephants to support the cause and also because I couldn't resist these pretty and unique elephants! But I was spoiled for choice by looking at so many of them, I decided to grab a book that contained most of the decorated elephant pictures and the description of artists about their inspiration of designing their artworks on the elephants.

A while later, I felt a strong liking for one particular elephant with light reflecting from it as if it was shining into my eyes. It even has a heart shape on its head that I adore!

Near to the counter I saw a little pink elephant and I bought it too!

Plants and cute stuff

2011-11-19T01:17:00.002+08:00

I've successfully grown bitter gourd plant in a pot and let its vines climb on my balcony grilles. I love bitter gourd dishes and the smell of their leaves.

My little garden.

Some other plants that I've grown, chilli, pomegranate, eggplant, small mandarin orange and Yomogi, also called "Ngải Cứu" in Vietnamese, I like this herb very much, it's a common herb in Vietnam and I've grown up eating it.

Lg bought me this Hello Kitty bowl with rose patterns, it's very cute!!! He often surprises me with cute little things.

He also bought for me some furry decorative stickers that I super love.

Cooking and Dancing

2011-11-17T21:33:00.004+08:00

Two new dishes added to my home cooking labels. I enjoy cooking as much as seeing Lg enjoy my home cooked food.

Oyakodon, one of the dishes I often cook for him. I added baby corns, potatoes and leeks in this dish as these are Lg's favorite veggies.

Squid with Veggie Stew. This is purely my invention. I stir fried squids with onions then added shoyu, mirin and sake, simmered it for a while before adding veggies. Simple and delicious!

Two new dance videos! These are sexy moves!

My Uncle Ken

2011-11-13T21:59:00.001+08:00

Uncle Ken is one of many nicknames that I called my hubby! He only gave me one nickname though, which is Bear Bear.

Lately I felt more affectionate towards my hubby, like I finally found the true love or something.

I have to admit I wasn't serious about our relationship at the beginning. But I realized that his love for me is constant and unchanging! I'm mad at him sometimes for being too nice to me, always apologizing even if it wasn't his fault, for making me his life even when I felt like I wasn't worth it.

Anyway, another dance central video I've just uploaded on Youtube danced by my Uncle Ken. He shook his way to keep fit and the results really showed after a month.

Tough Beef

2011-11-11T15:05:00.000+08:00

Not long ago, Lg captured my funny expressions when I was trying to chew some super tough beef at Lerk Thai restaurant. The beef was so tough that I couldn't bite it into smaller pieces but I had to swallow the whole piece and nearly choked on it. I gave up on the remaining piece.

Curry House CoCo Ichibanya

2011-11-10T14:45:00.005+08:00

I finally tasted the world famous Japanese curry from Curry House CoCo Ichibanya at Somerset 313, level B3! Their prices are surprisingly affordable and customers get to customize main courses like how much rice or how spicy they want.

I enjoyed their curry very much, my favorite place for lunch.

Cute Babies

2011-11-03T21:36:00.005+08:00

I used to think babies are like strange objects, hard to understand them and I'm really scared of them crying or screaming! I used to think of not wanting to have a baby of my own! But lately, I've met so many well-behaved babies with angelic faces that made my heart melt!!!

Baby Y Nhi, my niece! I love her even before she was born, when she was still inside her mommy's tummy! Her eyes are huge and beautiful! My sister is so blessed that she has this sweet angel! I love to spoil my niece and she is a very sensible baby at the age of two.

Baby Zhu Xuan, my grand-niece!!! She is a sweet and sassy little "lady" with attitude at the age of three! I adore her and love her so very much!

Baby Eita Kawashima!!! I kissed and hugged Eita whenever I'm close to him! At the age of one, he is curious about everything, but not afraid of strangers! I like him a lot!

These angels are a few that changed my perception about having a baby!!! Still, I'm not ready to be a mother, but maybe someday! :P

My second Dance Central video on youtube!!!

Enjoy!!! :P

Home Cooking

2011-11-03T01:02:00.003+08:00

I love cooking and Lg loves eating whatever I cook. He likes Asian food and rice, so most of the time our dinner consisted of rice and some dishes to accompany it.

Some dishes I often cook are:

Mei Cai Kou Rou, Steamed Pork With Mustard Greens. I roasted the pork belly by myself then steamed it.

Omu-rice, I mastered my skill of cooking this dish thanks to the Japanese cooking show "26 hours/day".

Kakiage Udon, a simple and healthy dish! I usually use carrots to make kakiage.

Scallion Pastry with Karasumi/Mullet Roe. Lg's favorite dish since his childhood!

French Toast, a simple dish and Lg often asked me to make this for his supper.

Red Wine Chicken Stew, it's not oily as it seems, I use extra virgin olive oil for this dish.

Stir Fried Beef with Chichinga. We both love this dish.

Simple Stir Fried Veggie.

Stir Fried Petai, I like spicy food.

Whitebait with ginger. This is a very addictive dish to me, sometimes i cook with cherry tomatoes or radishes.

Lilac love

2011-11-01T18:56:00.003+08:00

Had fun doing my manicure today, a little decor and glitter made it so cute!

After putting on base coat on my nails, I painted OPI "Royal Flush Blush" nail polish, but I didn't like it at that moment, hahahah, *always depends on my mood*, so I picked up OPI "Do You Lilac It" and it turned out great!!!

The pinkish tone perked up the lilac color immediately after one coating.

I decorated my nails with these accessories from Daiso to complete a cute look.

Only the nails on my left hand were decorated, because I need to use my right hand a lot, unless I go travelling.

♥¤.¸¸.·*☆*Bear Bear Diary*★*·.¸¸.¤♥