Announcement - My Blog Migration wef 22 Nov 2016

Dear All,

As many of you are already aware, I had been working on a new blog on a new blogging platform for the past weeks. I had also been busy doing trial and error with the help of a good friend. We managed to backup and export everything from this blog to my new blogging platform. However, I had to spend a few sleepless nights to touch up on the interface, design and also to edit the categories and to make sense of the taglines.

Finally, my new baby will be delivered and launched on 22 Nov 2016 at 00:00.

I had directed my personalised domain name: http://jolene428.com to the new blog already BUT I will continue to retain this blog because of all the memories which I had accumulated since 2009. This blogging platform had been through my ups and downs with me all these years and it takes me "great courage" to leave it and embark on an "unknown journey". If not for the non-functioning iphone apps which made blogging very inconvenient for a working mother like me, I would hope to continue with this blogging platform.

This will be my last blog post on this blogging platform. I hope you can continue to sail through my Blogging Venture with me, via my new blog, aka http://jolene428.wordpress.com or simply key in http://jolene428.com and it will lead you to the new blogging platform.

I hope this new "unknown journey" will bring me to a Whole New Better World, where I begin my Whole New Better Phase in my Blogging Venture. Seeya soon! ^^

A Very Special 11 Nov 2016 to Look Forward To...

You must be wondering what am I busy with these few weeks.

Well, a lot of things are up my sleeves. Haha...

And just as I thought I won't need to stress over Jamie's Mega Birthday Party this year, since I convinced her that she will enjoy small group playdates with different groups of friends more (and individual playdates = more DayOuts and PlayTime for her too).

But I guess my love for her has bewitched myself, to give in to her once-a-year Birthday Request. I decided to bring cupcakes to her school on 11 Nov 2016 during her recess time to do a simple school birthday celebration. But this year we will be going budget. Yes, I will keep reminding myself we need to go budget this year, though my love for her has often blinded my eyes to notice the prices of cakes and goodie bags. Haha..

Why Cupcakes? Well, it is less messy to clean up. No need to be stressed over how to cut a multi-tiered or 3D cake or even cutting a round cake can be stressful at times. By choosing cupcakes, everyone get one equal size "cake'' and will be easier to cater more for good eaters ;)

Jamie was not sure what ''theme'' she wants for this year birthday ''cake'' until I suddenly remember this morning that, I can actually choose the Pokemon Theme since 99% of Primary School Children should know what is Pokemon by now. Yes, choosing a theme is never easy especially for ''less exposed children''. I remember last year her 6th birthday party theme was ''Inside Out", hence I got the children Inside Out Tsum Tsum in the goodie bags. Then I realized not everyone had watched the movie ''Inside Out'' before... But Pokemon for this year's theme should be safe ^^ I will be ordering 3 dozens of very lovely twelve cupcakes and pokemon cake toppers ^^ And of coz not forgetting the yummy goodie bags :)

Why Twelve Cupcakes? I had never tasted them before because I always thought they are really expensive coz they look pretty and the outlets look very posh. Then I realized they are actually very affordable. 12 pc for $36? Where to find? I was initially shocked at how expensive cupcakes can cost these days... $4.50-$6.00 even by Home Bakers. Gosh... Maybe Twelve Cupcakes are smaller in size than the $6 cupcakes but 3 dozens  will be just nice for the kids. I heard it tastes yummy too :)

Okay, back to the Topic of today's blog.

So why is 11 Nov 2016 so special? Apart from Jamie's School Birthday Celebration, I will also be launching my newly migrated Blog.

Yes, I had signed up for Wordpress, which I heard can reach out to more people around the world (especially those countries who are anti-google). I also heard that their interfaces are more user-friendly. Best of All, Wordpress Smart Phone Apps allows you to not only follow my blog posts closely, but you are able to access to all other Wordpress Blogs too! So you can read any Wordpress Blogs on the go using a Smart Phone Apps instead of using a Phone Browser.

Oh yes, I had finally thought of a theme/tagline for my blog too. And it is a pretty cheesy theme/tagline but I do like it lah, coz I thought it sounds meaningful and easy to remember :P

I am calling it SuperMum Jolene - Gotta Have Them All...

All = The Best of All Worlds!

Who says Working Mummies cannot enjoy Personal Time, Social Life, Couple Travels/Paktors and Stay Slim, Pretty and Fit at the same time? Who says Working Mummies have to restrain and constraint herself to a Fixed Set of Guidelines or Rules by our Ancestors or the Social Norms? I am definitely a very unconventional mummy. I won't dare say my kids will grow up into Scholars or Future Leaders, but I look forward to see them grow up into adults with good characters and values. So, here I am to share with you how every Working or Non-Working Mummies can have them all :)

I am at the midst of tidying up my new blog and adding in more widgets, before launching it in 2 weeks time :) Meantime, stay tune k?! Have a good Weekends in Advanced too :)

WSG ECCE Career Fair - Find Me There!

Want to Find Out More About the Early Childhood Sector and the Available Job Vacancies and Professional Conversion Programme? Come find me at the ECCE Career Fair located at TPY HDB Hub Podium on 14-15 Oct 2016, 9am-5pm!

For the next two days I will be stationed at the Career Fair to answer queries and interviews candidates who are keen to join the Early Childhood Sector. Yeah, I know I had not been talking about my Day Job but well, I think I now love it so much that I want to start sharing my experiences and feelings about my Day Job :) Think I kinda of mentioned that I used to work for the government but I left last year. Currently I am an Internal Audit Manager at Sunflower Childcare Group. My jobscopes? I have one leg in most matters because Internal Audit covers a broad spectum from Operations to Licensing to Quality Assurance to SPARK... Wooh! Okay! I try not to bring in the "industry jargons", otherwise heads will start to spin. My job is simple. I am the bad guy (gal) who goes around my bosses' 20 childcare centres to assess (and guide) the Principals/Teachers/Franchisees to ensure Service Quality Assurance.

Okay, that's all I can share for now. As you get to read and see more about what I do, I guess you can then complete the puzzles.

Have you always wish to make a difference for our future generation? Be the one who grooms the future leaders? Or you simply cannot get enough of young children? I believe there is a place for every child under the sun. Every child is capable of doing great things. Different children have different strengths and learn best in different ways. If you also believe in this, I look forward in having you as part of the Sunflower Family.

Feel free to drop by our booth at the Career Fair to find out more ^^

Not Willing to Give Up on my Blogging Passion

Feeling pretty sian lately.

Why? 

Well... just as I was happy that I revamped my blog, I also realized that Google or Apple had removed the Blogger Apps from the AppStore. My existing Blogger Apps which I downloaded years ago is still in my iPhone but it had gone "crazy" lately aka Logout on its own as I typed half way.

Time and Again I met with many challenges which hindrance my blogging passion. Previously, I was hesitant about what I can share and what I cannot share on my blog due to my day job as a civil servant. We were warned not to express too much personal opinions during and after office hours, as general public may mistook our views = Ah Gong's views. But if we refused to share our views, general public may also mistook us as brainless robots who are programmed to do our jobs the way Ah Gong wants us to do. 

Well, seriously it is not easy being a civil servant. There is no such thing as iron rice bowl anymore in civil service. Every one of us are as dispensable as anyone of you out there. We are all just doing our jobs and we hope to do it well. This reminds me of the recent movie I watched "Sulley". The irony in the movie was that, by not following the SOPs, Sulley actually saved the whole plane of people. But there he was, being questioned about why he did not follow the SOPs. However, I would love to believe that those people who questioned his judgements, were really just doing their jobs too. 

Talking about how not following the SOPs, Sulley saved so many lives versa following SOPs had killed people in the movie "Deep Sea Horion". After seeing flames and people being killed, the workers still die die need to wait for the key personnel to press the disengagged button. Yes, maybe the other workers are not the expert to decide what should be done. Or maybe their positions are not high enough to make major decisions. But what if the key personnel did not make it to the control room alive? Everyone should just die together with him? 

SOPs are there for saving lives and improve productivity and efficiency. They are not there to make you handicapped or kill people. 

Apart from not being able to express myself freely, I used to have a very heavy workload. I still have a heavy workload now,though I joined the private sector. But I am really so much happier. I want to be able to express myself even if my suggestions are not taken into consideration. I want to be able to share what I think will benefit my organisation and not to be accused of trying to add on to everyone's workload. 

I did try hard to juggle with my day work and my blogging hobby. As I finally revamped my blog, I heard the bad news that Blogger is no longer in the Appstore. Here I am blogging via Safari Browser. It is more leh chek to blog this way but I really do not wish to just admit defeat. I still want to work hard on my blog and I still got so much to share :) 

I have a few other options eg change to Wordpress or continue to blog using Browser to login to Blogger. As of now I will use the latter method and I hope to stay positive and work on my blog while juggling with my day job and my role as a mummy! 

I will continue to be stubborn and stay positive :) 

Jiayou to me! ^^

我的战争已结束，现在是你们战争的开始

昨晚的剧集让我有点大跌眼镜。

我想太宗的病情应该是因为吴尚宫的死而恶化。当你身边不再有可以信任的人，存在还有什么意义呢？

“今天还在的人，明天就不在了。”

“如果我知道会害死人，我就不这么拼命地活着了。”

“我曾经无法保护的，现在就让我保护我想保护的好吗？”

坐上王位就真的可以保护自己想保护的人吗？你看太宗。即使他创办了高丽又怎样？如他所说，高丽可以永存吗？因为要保护他的王位，他的太子，他必须失去他最爱的女人。这就好比，很多人一辈子争名夺利，到死的那口气才发现这一切都生不带来，死不带去。那么又何必在没有病痛的时候，那么为难自己呢？好吃好睡才是可遇而不可求的。

原来一直想尽办法抢王位的顺成王后，只是一个渴望被自己爱的人爱惜的可怜女人。她只是想证明自己的儿子比太子优秀而已，她只是希望太宗爱她的孩子多一点。但我不明白的是，为什么她就是无法爱昭王子呢？昭王子难到不是她亲生的吗？还是因为昭王子从小就无法认同也不愿意与她同流合污？曾经自以为了不起的顺成王后结果在太宗死后疯了。她以为自己总算解决了吴尚宫，赢了这场后宫之战。她以为吴尚宫死后太宗就会回到她的身边，但是直到太宗的最后一口气，他喊的还是“素妍”（吴尚宫）。我突然有点可怜她。

如果我是解树，我也不会原谅旭王子。他不只利用了解树对他的信任，他还是个叛国贼。还是，其实旭王子本来就是一个野心勃勃，对王位虎视眈眈的伪君子？他只是找不到适当的时机，适当的借口罢了。他只是要找一个别人会体恤的借口叛乱。解树就是他的借口。现在解树要和他一起走，但是现在他不想走了。因为现在时机对了，借口也有了。好比解树说的，旭王子就是一辈子在找借口，一辈子在自欺欺人。他无法像昭王子一样想做就做自己想做的事。

反而，传说中残暴的光宗王昭，其实是心思很细腻，天性很善良的。他会为了父亲送面具给他而感动。他会为了怕母亲被怪罪而杀人。他会因为解树的帮助而终生感激。他会因为解树不介意他的疤痕而爱上她。他也会因为以为自己杀死尧王子，违背对解树的诺言而伤心哭泣。我想如果他是光宗，那么他一定是在很激动悲痛的情况下，才会杀死自己的兄弟。

生存在一个你不杀人，就有可能被人杀的皇宫里，难怪没有人愿意相信任何人。

可是即使解树知道昭王子有可能是光宗，她还是愿意相信昭王子不会骗他。他答应她的，他一定会尽量做到。

很惊讶，原来一开始太宗就认定了昭王子和太子会是登上王位的人选。或许这是因为知梦的关系，又或者太宗一开始就看得出昭王子的生性善良和王者风范。这让我想起历史不就记载了康熙把圆明园送给了雍正来表达对他的赏视，来打破世人对雍正夺位的传闻吗？

我真的很期待接下来的剧情。不知道是不是真的会因为解树的存在，而改变了历史。会不会结果是旭王子变成光宗，杀死亲兄弟或是旭王子错杀解树后，昭王子发疯杀了所有的人？解树到了最后会爱上昭王子，而和昭王子长厢厮守吗？

值得一提的是，李准基真的是一个很出色的演员。姜河那就只有两个表情，有笑容和没有笑容。他生气的样子，伤心的样子，奸诈的样子和错愕的样子，都没什么差别。但是李准基却用了很多不同的眼神和表情来演戏。单单一个没有笑容的表情就有好多种不同的眼神！天啊！我以前怎么没有留意过他啊！

人说，演员要红就要遇到一个对的，又适合的角色。演错了，就是演了十年也不会红。演对了一部戏，接下来就会有很多好片找上门；不只大红，口袋也会满满。拿吴奇隆四爷来说吧。以前的他是为了还父债而乱接戏，所以演的戏大多是重量不重质，也不会特别红。可是《步步惊心》却让吴奇隆大翻身，不只好片连接，还抱得美人归。我还记得李准基以前一直都是第二男主角，现在接到了这部好戏，希望他也可以和吴奇隆一样大翻身！接下来还是很期待有更多他的好戏！李准基 Fighting!!!

放弃不属于自己的，珍惜现在拥有的。。

到底旭王子是因为懦弱，或是因为怕死？为什么他说爱解树，却在她最无助的时候什么也没为她做过？他就真的选择认命自保了吗？

比起一直虎视眈眈王位的郑嘉颖八爷，我其实很不喜欢旭王子。我喜欢痴心、很愿意为解树放弃一切的昭王子。我喜欢他一无反顾的爱。

或许昭王子的勇敢是因为他不在皇宫里长大，所以他没有经历过旭王子一般的童年。因此他不害怕，也不麻木。他的想法很简单；喜欢就在一起；喜欢就努力地保护心爱的人。他因为孤独过，因此他更不可能放弃已经失去一切的解树。

我觉得解树是喜欢昭王子的，所以她无法忽视昭王子。不知道为什么她不觉得自己对昭王子的关心已超越友情。

这一集皇上突然问解树她从哪里来，其实我觉得有点无厘头。有一点难以置信高丽时代的人会相信穿越。更难以置信的是，原来一开始皇上就已经想要把王位给昭王子。

太宗皇帝今天对解树说的那句话，康熙也和若曦说过。

“放弃不属于你的，珍惜你现在拥有的”

人就是太执着于自己想要得到的，而忽略了一直守护在自己身边的。为何不放弃执着，而学会感恩？

明天就是抢王位的一集了！一定要收看哦！ 

A Happier Me Now..。

This post took me weeks to complete because there were too many distractions eg work, work and work. Haha! Okay! I shall stop using work as an excuse lah! I guess lately I am experiencing some mind-block

However sad I was, I realized I could not cry. 

Time is a Gift..

Since Time is so priceless, I should not waste it on crying over spill milk. Instead, I should use it to think if there is any way to turn the table around. Yes, it seems impossible but this does not stop me from fighting on. I will not give up until I tried every possible way. Until I had done my best, I cannot give up. 

Recently, coincidentally there were alot of events which triggered me to feel nostalgic. Last few weeks, I caught up with friends whom I knew at different stages of my life 10-20 years ago. Then recently I watched Alice in Wonderland 2 - Looking through the Glass and attended Sammi Cheng's concert at RWS. Even watching "Finding Dory" gave me some new insights about my life.

I guess it is liked a ten-yearly taking stick session? And I hadn't been taking stock for 20 years? Sad to say, I had wasted 10 years of my life wondering why I am unable to be in my "dream job" and wasted my recent few years feeling lousy about myself.

I am definitely happier than before now. So many of my friends were saying "though I am not sure what you do at work but I definitely can see you areso much happier these days because it is all written over your face and you have this happy aura around you. Yeah, I know. This is me, if u bother to, u will definitely be able to read me like a book. My aura cannot lie! Haha! 

But sometimes I do still feel a bit sad and wish to whine a little. But well, just a little lah! If I feel nothing then I am not me already k?

One of my old friends reminded me that I should count how many ticks are in my bucket list and not hold on to the list of 遗憾 which I did not managed to achieve. Some things are meant to be. I might not be happier even if I have these things because I meant to be happier without them.

I learnt from Alice in Wonderland that we cannot undo what has been done but we can always learn something from the past. As long as we know what went wrong and the reasons that caused the wrong, then we can ensure history does not repeat itself. And we will treasure what we have now since we know it did not come easy. 

As I watched Sammi Cheng's concert and listened to the "old songs" she sang, I suddenly had alot of flashbacks. I realized I grew up watching her HK romance  comedies. She was always the Cinderella in the various movies, who later met up with her "prince charming" and they would overcome all the challenges before they lived happily ever after. 

This reminds me of the Taiwanese movie I watched few months back. 

I too have found my knight who is willing to forgive my every mistake and accept me to be who I am. 

I too have gradually regained my lost "voice" and confidence. Similarly to the female lead actress who had became "seasoned" by the harsh working society, I had became rather quiet and disillusioned over the years. Though I am still relatively "quiet", compared to the me in my school days, I now dare to voice out my opinions again because there are audience who take what I say more seriously. 

虐心的悲痛。。。

看完了刚才那一集，心有没有抽痛的感觉？有没有哭？

我真的很佩服剪接thriller的工作人员咧！他真的牛力出到完（try to say this in hokkien, gu luck chu ga liao! haha) 。要不是我熟悉《步步惊心》的剧情，我真的以为昭王子要死了咧！我也真的会以为解树也会死。But then this will not make any sense liao. 所以以我曾是国大戏剧组投选的最佳导演、编剧与女演员，plus GCE A Level English Literature Student, 我猜对啦！吴尚宫会代解树而死。这奇妙地似乎就是“最好”的结局了。因为太子、四王子，解树都不可以死。只好牺牲自私的陛下了。陛下必须为自己不果断又害怕宗族的个性，付出代价。就像当年没有追究吴尚宫早产的事件一样。我想剧组努力地剪片就是想让收视率上升。

听起来有点虐待狂的感觉，但是不知怎地我很喜欢昭王子和解树在监狱里的对话。他们就是那么毫不迟疑地明白对方的心意。反看旭王子鄙视解树手上的鲜血的那个目光，看来他已经开始嫌弃解树了。他怕事自私的个性和陛下其实很像。他对解树的承诺都是骗人的；他就是那种可以一起享福，却无法一同吃苦的懦夫。不过，当然编剧是有绞尽脑汁地尽量把旭王子的懦弱与怕事归咎于他族人对他的期望, 他对母亲和妹妹的责任和他与妹妹童年的阴影。

不过最坏的莫过于他妹妹延华公主。或许宫里长大的孩子都是比较现实势利的。她明明最恨的是顺成王后但

还是与她勾结毒害太子、诬陷解树。她明明知道旭王子喜欢解树，她还是为了让昭王子放弃解树而诬陷她。历史上她选择嫁给昭王子也是因为她识时务者吧？

雨里的那场戏也太经典了吧！所以我立刻就拍下了这一幕。

有没有很回味的感觉啊？呵呵！

IU很勇敢。她不只“素颜”上镜，还愿意被画成伤痕累累。本来不是很喜欢IU演“若曦”，因为我是仆信惠之迷。哈哈！但是我开始为IU那楚楚可怜的样子所感动。

你想这一集过后昭王子和旭王子会不会一起抢王位？旭王子似乎还是不愿“出手”，反而昭王子有完全的理由抢王位。

不过可以肯定的是旭王子放弃了解树，而昭王子绝不放手。

Finally! The Blog has been revamped!

Did you notice any difference in my blog interface, colour and banners?

I was doing research and found that this interface/layout looks really simple and clean. I am not someone who is fond of physical clutter and visual clutter. So this new layout and colour theme really suits me! 

I have to thanks my good friend, Hao, for taking time to help me revamp my blog :) The banner was very well done. Simple and speaks it all. More than Words isn't it?

Trying out the cloud design for my labels/categories. Looks ok to me so far but if u do find it difficult to find the posts you want to read on, do tell me k? We can always change it back to the list/bullet design.

I may still continue to touch up the sidebar and add in about me so that readers can understand more about the real me ^^

I hope the Labels are self-explanatory. In doubt, do not hesistate to clarify k! Hope to blog more regularly and I have so much I wish to share! 

As I dug my old photos, I found some "treasure" too! Haha! Can't wait to share! 

So stay tune! 

一步比一步惊心。。

大家都猜到了吗？

第八集里，我们可以肯定四王子就是下一任皇帝光宗。

之前迷上四爷雍正的时候，我可是做了很多功课。做功课的时候，我发现原著剧本奇妙之处，就是恰好的tweet了一下真实的中国历史。不多不少恰恰好地把若曦这个角色卷入七爷夺位之中，让我们为暴君雍正以泪洗脸，暗自赞同他夺位。看完了吴奇隆版的《步步惊心》，我真的相信雍正夺位是情有可原的。要有能力保护所爱的人，就一定要变成最有权势的人。

自然地，在迷《步步惊心。丽》的当儿，我也去查了一下高丽的历史。哇噻！这部剧的编剧也有够用心的。他真的做足了功课，也恰好地把高丽的历史tweet了一下，加入了解树这个角色。剧里也加入了我们现代人会觉得奇怪的礼俗，比如与同父异母的兄弟姐妹或外甥侄女通婚。

根据高丽的历史，四王子王昭真的娶了莲花公主延华来扩充自己的实力，也娶了太子的女儿（也即是自己的侄女）。也听说光宗王昭有三个老婆。第三个是不是解树呢？

刚才看过了第九集的预告片。看来十王子会被逼娶顺德。不知道这时的解树是不是被吓坏了！她竟然就是扭转高丽历史的重要人物啊！

好紧张啊！皇帝会不会答应四王子，把解树赐给他呢？还是会因为他的要求触怒龙颜，变成更不喜欢四王子了呢？而八王子会不会觉得自己被出卖了，以为解树与四王子有私情，而性情大变？

敬请收看哦！

P.S. 我真的很喜欢这个剧照！突然好希望李准基和IU也可以是真的恋人！嘻！

让我再次心跳加速的《步步惊心。丽》

初时抱着好奇的心情想知道韩国版的《步步惊心》会是怎样的剧情。看过第一集，本来还不以为意。毕竟我对剧里的韩国明星并不熟悉，女主角IU的演技也不胜于刘诗诗。

但是，看着看着我竟然爱上了韩版的四爷aka四王子王昭。我再次对《步步惊心》有了心跳的感觉。这次饰演四王子的李准基比起四爷吴奇隆的眼神，尖锐冷峻中带着怜悯的温柔。虽然我是四爷吴奇隆的支持者，但是我还是觉得李准基的眼神更会说话。

不过比起八爷郑嘉颖，八王子姜河那似乎逊色了些。姜河那是很帅啦，不过他的古装造型只是soso而已，他在《继承者们》里的时装学生造型还更帅点。呵呵。。虽然我不喜欢三王子的角色，但是我觉得他的古装造型很帅气！八爷郑嘉颖的古装造型一直是有目共睹的，所以自然胜于姜河那的古装造型。

很喜欢十王子傻里傻气的样子，十三王子文诌诌的书生味，和十四王子的任性与好胜。

看到第七集，我开始向往看见十王子和将军女儿顺德的互动，四王子对顺成王后和三王子的反击和十三王子和战败公主的邂逅。我很是期待接下来剧情的演变。到底韩版会保存原著的精髓还是有我所料，扭转剧情呢？

虽然很庆幸新加坡和韩国同步首播《步步惊心。丽》，但是又觉得一集一集看很不耐烦，因为一星期只播两集。

呵呵。。我想去韩国已经想了三年。之前看了吴奇隆版的《步步惊心》，还冲到北京去了一趟“中国步步惊心之旅”。我想看完这部韩剧，我肯定更想去一趟韩版“步步惊心“之旅。哈哈，我现在就开始存钱吧！

说说我对剧情的猜测。。原著剧情跟随着清朝历史的演变，由四爷雍正密谋夺位，杀害父亲康熙和兄弟。如果韩版的改编依照一般韩剧的剧情，那么四王子会是那个痴痴单恋解树的人，而八王子就会是那个为了可以有更多的power来保护并得到解树而密谋造反的人。如果韩版忠于原著，四王子就会变坏。

无论剧情如何发展，我都好期待哦！呵呵！第一次好期待星期天快点结束，因为只有星期一、二，有播这部剧。呵呵！尽请留意哦！

Counting down to my first overseas worktrip

In less than 30 hours, I should be on the plane to Shenzhen to conduct staff training for my Franchisee over there.

Feeling really anxious and excited at the same time. Because this is my first overseas worktrip and I only received the instructions last weekends. 

However, I am definitely more excited than anxious as this will be a good exposure for me and I had long-wished to check out our overseas Franchisee.

I managed to pack my luggage a while ago and hope I didn't miss anything out. Would need to check my luggage another round later tonight and add in the missing items. 

Heard that weather will be bad these few days as the monsoon approaches. Praying hard for everyone's safety and good health. Do pray for us too k! 

I very much wish to blog live while I am at Shenzhen but it is a pity China does not have access to Google and its affliated programme such Youtube, Facebook and Blogger! However, I will try to draft my blog when I have the time to and post it once I am back to Singapore. 

By the way, anyone notices the changes to my blog interface, colour themes and blog banner? I did it with the help of a friend who is good in web design. I personally like it a lot as it looks "cleaner"

and "neater" now. In addition, the blog banner now includes all the three special someone in my life. ^^ 

I am still touching up on my blog design so stay tune k! 

Meantime, don't miss me when I am not around! :P

[Food Review] Classic Cheese with Angus Beef Burger

Had bio-ed the three new signature collection from Mcdonalds for weeks, before I finally found the time (and excuse) to try one of them. Being a Beef cum Cheese Lover, it was not difficult to decide which to try first.

Before I tried this Classic Cheese with Angus Beef Burger, I did not have a very good impression of the Angus Beef Patty that Mcdonalds used. I tried creating my own Mcdonald burgers before using Angus Beef, but many a time, the Angus Beef Patty tasted very dry. 

However, with the Melted Cheese, Salsa Sauce and Sour Cream alike Sauce all in the burger at the same, I had the OMG feeling as I chewed on the slightly wet Angus Beef Patty and Crispy Bacon. 

I had never been a big fan of the Mcdonalds Burger Bread but it was one of the few times I finished all the Burger Bread. 

It was not long before I tried the burger a second time at the same branch. I was not disappointed! This is the second burger apart from Carl's Junior Western Bacon that give me the OMG feeling.

I urge all beef lover to try the Classic Cheese Burger with Angus Beef and leave a comment to this blog post to share your views and experiences! 

4 One Dish Home-Cooked Dinner Recipes

One-Dish Dinner is definitely a good alternative for weekday dinners, if you have no time to cook up a 5 dishes dinner like I did over the weekends. Over the last week, I have cooked up 3 One-Dish Dinner which received good reviews from my kids and Laogong. Maybe you can try cooking them too

Tomato-based Spagetti with hotdog and crispy nuggets Vs Tomato-based Macaroni with fishballs, meatballs and hotdogs

Spagetti is one of the easiest one-dish lunch/dinner to make in less than an hour. 

My kids used to like the creamy pasta but now they are into tomato-based pasta. You must be wondering how come I used mainly processed food as the ingredients for my pasta. Well, I did wanted to use fresh real food but Laogong taught me one thing. Instead of cooking what we think is best for the diners, we should just cook what the diners prefer to eat. Otherwise, the cook may not get the appreciation she wants. True enough, I see more smiles on my kids first when they eat the Spagetti coz they like Spagetti more than Macaroni nowadays. 

Okay, to cook Spagetti or Macaroni, first you boiled a pot of water and then add the required amount of pasta into the boiled water. I am really bad in estimating the amount of food to cook and often I tend to overcook (meaning instead of cooking for 2-3 adults + 2 kids, I would always think i am cooking for 4-5 adults). But I now learnt that we can use our palm size to estimate. One full palm to one adult and one half palm to one kid. Try it and let me know if it works. 

While the pasta is boiling, we can fry the ingredients in a frying pot or wok with some oil. When all the ingredients are cooked, add the pasta sauce. You can also add cream carbonara or alfero sauce too. 

When the pasta are cooked, remove the pasta from the boiling water and pour the pasta into tap water to cool it down. They will be more Q or chewy instead of all stick together if you add this step.

After frying the ingredients, Stir the sauce thoroughly with the ingredients. You can then choose to pour the cooled pasta into the ingredients and simmer for 2-3 minutes and serve. Or you can serve the ingredients and pasta separately. We prefer to serve them separately so if we cannot finish the sauce/ingredients or pasta, we can recycle them for other uses/dishes. 

Note: Crispy nuggets were made by cutting them into thin slices and airfried at 200dC for 10-12 minutes.

Tomato-based Spagetti with hotdog and crispy nuggets

Tomato-based Macaroni with fishballs, meatballs and hotdogs

Talking about recycling unfinished sauce/ingredients, I made pasta for lunch yesterday and added more hotdogs and crabsticks to the leftover sauce & ingredients and transformed it into another dish to eat with rice or the leftover pasta for dinner. Alternatively, you can also fried the pasta to make alio olio pasta or make soupy pasta with fishballs and minced meat. 

Transformed dish from recycled pasta sauce! 

Shredded Crabsticks and Mushrooms Soup plus Ma Po Tofu with minced meat

These days I learnt to be more flexible in what I decided to cook. Sometimes I planned to cook something more fanciful but due to lack of time, I had to change to something simpler.

The night before I cooked the crabstick and mushroom soup I was trying to follow an online recipe to airfry shredded crabsticks. However, it didn't turn out fhe way I wanted it to be, so I decided to save the remaining shredded crabsticks to make some soup on the following day.

Laogong loves golden mushrooms and Jamie loves shitake mushrooms so I decided to add them into 

Good traffic and knocking off on time allowed me to get home pretty early. This bought me some time to cook one more of Laogong favorite dish and steamed a piece of salmon for James. 

First I boiled a pot of water and then I placed the shredded crabsticks, sliced shitake mushroom and cut golden mushroom into the pot. When all was cooked, I cracked two beaten eggs into the soup and stirred. I learnt that there are two ways of creating a texture for soups. One is to add corn flour and the other is to add beaten eggs. The soup tasted wonderful and very fulfilling.

Shredded Crabsticks and Mushrooms Soup

I bought ready-mixed Ma Po Tofu Sauce from NTUC and you can use any type of square tofu, preferrably suitable for stir frying. I marinated the minced meat with soya sauce for 10minutes, before frying it with the tofu. When the minced meat was cooked, the ready-mixed sauce was added and corn flour mixed in warm water was poured in too, to create the starchy saucy feeling. And it was done. Simple right?

Ma Po Tofu with Minced Meat

Laogong and the kids were so happy that they ate additional servings of food ^^ Isn't this what the Cook/Chef will always like to see to feel assured about her cooking skills? 

One-Pot 四神 Soup with chicken and lotus roots

Thursday I was home late because I went for my eyebrow and eyeliner embrodiery. I will share more about this in a separate blog post.

However, I really hope the kids can have a good meal. Hence, I defroze a packet of mini drumsticks by putting the frozen chicken into the chiller compartment the night before and sliced the lotus roots too. 

I also woke up 15 minutes earlier, to put all the ingredients into a 2-litres pot of boiling water, together with a ready-packed 四神汤herbs.

Heehee, I didn't managed to take a photo fo the cooked soup because there was nothing left of it when I got home! Feel accomplished! ^^

Okay, that's so much for now. I will continue to share the different recipes I learnt and tried to cook! Hope it helps all the cooking-working mama finds time-efficient dishes in their dinner menu!