Ghouls on the streets....

OMG...the ghouls are out on the streets again. The time now is 1am and I heard people screaming and yelling on the streets. I can't tell whether they are being robbed, being raped, murdered or just fooling around. All I heard are some guys voices shouting and yelling and some gals voices screaming and shrieking.....And it's still going on for the past 20 mins...wondered when it will end.
Well, I called them 'ghouls' for a good reason coz they like to come out at night after the sun set. Their shabbatt ends at sundown so during shabbatt they can't do almost anything, but once their shabbatt ends, you can see so many of them coming out at night, and restaurants and super mart starts to open also. (but closed after a 3-4 hrs)
It felt like Halloween here almost everyday except it's not fun at all.

Poochi's new mattress

Made Poochi a new mattress for his cage aka "Cave". He likes to sleep inside the "cave" nowadays and since weather is getting cooler, I decide to make a mattress for him to sleep inside. OMG~! It took me about 4-5 days just to sew this huge thing coz I am sewing everything by hand. Its time like this that I wish I had a sewing machine. Think I may just seriously get one when I go over to the States and hand carry it over *_*
Discovered a new blog today by this Japanese lady living in the States. She lived in San Jose, with her American husband and it just reminded me of the times I had in the States. I've been to San Jose many times for grocery shopping coz it had many asian supermarkets.Its a nice place to live.  And also from her blog, she reminded me of a place called "Trader's Joe"  Its a chain of supermarkets in the States and they sell a lot of very nice and unique foodstuffs. It makes me wana kick myself for never stepping into this place during my entire year stay in US. It so STRANGE coz I know of this place ( I always received their pamphlets in the mail) but I dont know why I never thought of going there?? 
Anyway, she had many beautiful fabrics and sewing projects and I felt that I learnt so much from reading her blog. Its always good to know there are nice people around this world who shares the same interest as me.
Poochi is now sleeping on my feet while I typed away at my laptop. He is such a wonderful foot warmer and great for me as I always have cold feet. I read that Pugs are like your shadows, they always follow wherever you go and love to laze at your feet.  How very true! I felt like I have got 2 shadows in this house.

My Brunch

 Its the first time I am eating the mooncakes from Intercontinental Hotel. The packaging looked very nice.

Inside the box were 4 small boxes of white lotus with double yoke baked mooncakes. Many thanks to Ah Teck for bringing over the mooncakes for me and Hubby :)

My brunch today was half a mooncake and tea with mint. It was awesome~! Took my time to slowly savor it. While I can still find mooncakes for sale in the States, its not possible to find such food here. My all time fave is still the green tea snowskin mooncake from 'Tung Hai' which JW helped to bring over last time, yum yum~!

It actually rain~!

View taken outside my bedroom window

I'm so glad it finally rain! Its not those big downpour like those in SG, but fine drizzling rain and the air smell much fresher. Its not very clear from the pic but can see the ground is moist and the sky is darkened. I miss the rain....That means its the END of summer and the beginning of autumn/winter, yeah~! 

Been lying on the bed stricken with very bad cramps since yesterday. Guess I have to eat more evening primrose oil otherwise I dunoe how to survive the roadtrip next month. Its 11 more days to go for my US trip....counting down......I'm so looking forward to getting out of this dump.
Btw, my short haircut had gradually turned into a perm. I dunoe why my hair had turned so curly and hubby said it looked like I had permed my hair. Sighz...*_* Its either I see it as a worst case of bedhead or a trendy spiky messy hairdo....I'll prob just wear a cap instead.

Homemade KFC aka JFC

I finally decided to cook up some fried chicken as I am having some serious cravings for it for quite some time. Very strangely, there are NO fried chicken in this country.(they have fried chicken schnitzel but taste like fried biscuit to me) There are also no mash potatoes as far as I can see. Reason is because its not kosher. For the fried chicken, you will need to marinate the chicken in buttermilk to give it the meat a smooth tender and juicy texture, similarly for the mash potatoes as the gravy contains animal by products and cream. The Jews cannot eat meat together with any dairy products. So you can forget about eating your chops or steaks with gravy on top in this place.
Besides making fried chicken ( this is my first time), its also my first time making mash potatoes. OMG~! Its SO much work! Luckily I had made the coleslaw in advance yesterday so I can concentrate on my fried chicken and mash potatoes today.

In total, I fried 12 pieces of chicken today. Each person got 2 wings and 1 drumstick. At first, I thought the portion was just nice but turned out I cant even finished my share. I was already waving the white flag after my second piece, same as Hubby. In the end, we just have to forsake the skins and just finished the meat. Right now, I dont think I wanna eat another piece of fried chicken for a long long time....Guess my stomach is becoming weak from staying in this country coz haven eat such sinful oily stuff for SO long and now I am having a hard time digesting it. Now, the whole house smell like fried chicken, even poor Poochi also smell like a fried chicken, hahaa...~

Haircut day

I finally got my hair chopped today! It's been almost 1 year since I stepped into a hair salon and my hair had become too long and unbearable for me to take it, and so today I went to the hair salon near my house to get it cut. Turned out to be quite good, better than I expected. I still prefer short hair better than long hair coz it looked much neater and manageable for me. Guess the next time I cut it again will be when I am back in SG.
For dinner, we went out with JW and Weizhong to eat some indian food at Tandoori Chicken Restaurant. The food is excellent and the lady boss is very nice. She gave us complimentary chicken masala and dessert, so end up we had a very filling but satisfying meal. I am still very full.....arghhh....haven't eat such good food for a long time! Yeah~!

A trip to the Rosh Hanikra and Akko

Yesterday, I went to Rosh Hanikra and Akko, which are situated in the north of Israel.

The parking area of Rosh Hanikra. Before we reached here, we actually hollanded in someone's kibbutz..?! It was very funny, anyway it took 2 hrs of driving before reaching this destination.

Its right next to the mediterranean sea and the view is very nice. The water is surprisingly clear and blue green.

 First stop, to the cable car station

 Where we are supposed to take the cable down to the grottos and to watch a show

 The cable car trip was actually quite short, about 1 min??

The guys busy snapping away with their camera once we got out of the cable car. It was a very sunny and humid day, I actually got a bit of tan....finally... after being cooped in the house for so long, I felt that I had turned into a pale luminous colour without using any SKII, amazing rite.

 Entrance to the gottos. Grottos are formed from a natural on going geological process over thousands of years. It began when a series of underground shocks ripped gaps into the bedrock. Rainwater then penetrated the within the gaps, dissolving them and forming within tunnels and seacaves (grottos).

 Entering the caves, the floor are slippery and very rough and sharp. 

 Very beautiful clear water.

Hubby posing for the camera. 

 Outside view of the bedrock

 The mediterranean sea.....

More views of white rocks.

Rosh Hanikra is actually so near to the Lebanon border. Beyond the blue gates lies the country of Lebanon. We felt very cautious taking pics when approaching....then when the guards saw us, he said "why stand so far, come nearer..." so we went closer and there on the gate was the sign "Photography Prohibited!" but we still continued to take pics....haha....

Our next destination is the Arab town of Akko. It is also situated near to the sea. Got abit lost when we reached there due to the lack of English signs around. Luckily, there are four of us so its not so bad. 

Had late lunch at this Arab restaurant called four loaves and fish. 

 OMG, they actually have English menu. Great~!

 I like this pita bread, taste like middle east version of garlic bread.

 Even the hummus-hating Weizhong enjoyed eating this hummus.

 The seafood combination plate consist of fried calamari and prawns. Taste quite good actually.

 Each of us ordered a fried/grilled seabass. The portion is just nice for me and taste good. But I dont really like the big pile of raw parsely next to it.

 After a full lunch, we decided to walk around a bit. The weather is great coz its breezy and the sun is not so hot. Saw a few bridal couples taking their wedding shots near the beach.

I guess it must be low tide, coz I saw quite a lot of people standing on the rocks and fishing.

The crumbling old stone wall was supposed to be a fortress wall in the old days. There are just too many old crumbling stones walls or houses in this country. Sadly, I really cant seem to appreciate the beauty of such historical relics coz to me, it just a crumbling pile of rocks.

 Some snapshots around Akko. Most of the attractions and tours were closed at 4pm so we din get a chance to visit the Templer Tunnel, the Arab market and some of the museums.

A church in a Arab town?

Was so tired by the time I reached home about 7pm that I will sleep the moment my head touch the pillow. But had to force myself to stay awake to watch my TrueBlood coz I had already missed it yesterday so I cant missed the rerun. Literally had to pinch my eyelids open to stay awake. But amazingly, after I finished watching my show, I CAN'T SLEEP! The drowsy spell had passed and I was wide awake. Think there is seriously something wrong with my head....sighz....

Happy birthday~!

Just celebrated JW's birthday together with Hubby, Weizhong and Poochi. He turned 30 this year but don't look like his age at all. I'm glad the cheesecake taste quite fine. Yeah~ this means I have succeeded :) The guys enjoyed the cheesecake very much. After that, the guys went for their bowling together with Hubby but I din go as I feel tired. Brought Poochi to the vet today and there is good news. Turned out it might not be Lupus afterall. There is a problem with this type of breed and right now we are trying out this new medications so that it will reduce his dependency on steroids. I am keeping my fingers crossed on it. Its still incurable but there is better hope for him.

Random grumbling...

Can't sleep at all....ate 2 tablets of chlorophiramine. Think my blocked nose is keeping me awake, hard to fall asleep when u can't breathe properly. As usual, when I can't sleep in the middle of the night, I will go inside Poochi's room and played with him (wake him up, haha) he looked so cute when he is sleeping. I love to squeesh and hug him coz it's SO therapeutic! He feel so warm and soft and so cuddly. He is like the best plush toy i ever had. But he is so greedy, always expecting me to give him food, like he haven't eaten for many days. Maybe it's the side effects of steroids as it can caused increased in thirst and appetite, which explains why many such dogs are overweight and urinate a lot. It's sad for me to know he had this incurable problem. It's like telling me your child had cancer and won't have long to live. It really sucks!
Thank goodness I don't have to cook tomorrow coz I had done a lot of cooking, cleaning and even baking today. Will be bringing Poochi to the vet tomorrow but the appt time is 845pm! So late.....dun think I got time to bath him after that.
The blocked nose is driving me crazy...
I am so sick and tired of people thinking I am having such a good life, dun need to work. If you envy me, then quit your damned job lah.

My first Cheescake

I actually managed to bake a cheesecake!

Its a chocolate marbled cheesecake. The bottom crust is made from digestive biscuit, crushed and pressed onto the bottom of the pan. I used four packs of Philidelphia cheese, four egges and about 1 cup sugar. The most fun part is the chocolate swirling part to create the marbled effect. Think mine looked messy... *_*
According to the instructions, the cheesecake is placed inside a water bath and then the whole thing is placed inside the oven to be baked at 350 degree for 1 hr. Well, turned out to look quite like the real thing but not sure how it will taste yet. Had to refrigerate it overnight in the fridge first before eating. If it turned out to be successful, then we can finally have some decent cheesecake to eat here! The cheesecakes that is sold here is different from the types I like to eat ( I like those New York cheesecake, very cheesy and creamy type). Its more like the fiesta Japanese sponge cheesecake or taste like ice cream cake, more milky and airy type and not the kind I always eat. I don't know why, maybe becoz its not kosher???

 My Mcdonalds chilli sauce has been restocked at last, thanks to Edna who came over for a 4 days meeting. Heard she is coming for a 1 month stay sometimes this year for work, think WH will be v happy.....haha...

House pouch projects and ebay haul

Came up with the idea to sew a house shaped pouch after seeing it in a Jap magazine and this is what I came up with:

A pink roof house pouch with felt windows and door and a cotton pom doorknob

 Back view of the pouch

Interior lining using pink fabric with sewing stuffs prints from Timeless Treasures.

A lavender roof house pouch.

Back view of pouch decorated with light purple ribbon.

Interior lining using star shaped fabric.

Been buying stuffs from ebay recently and got myself some skincare and cosmetic products which are not available here. Most of these sellers are from Hong Kong or Taiwan and the prices are quite reasonable compared to SG.

 10 assorted packets of My Beauty Diary face mask. The red wine mask is really good.

 One set of My Beauty Diary sweet teatime, a Dior facial cleanser and 2 small samples of Dior Capture Totale One Essential serum. The Dior cleanser has a very nice fragrance and the serum is light and absorb quite well into my skin to give a very smooth and soft feeling. Unlike some face serum which is so thick that it just sits on the skin and ends up giving me a pimple outbreak, like the PeterThomasRuth mega rich intensive anti ageing creme, which I end up just using it on my elbows and knees.

Contents of the Beauty Diary set are, 1 pkt of chocolate truffle face mask, 1 pkt of earl grey tea & macaroon face mask, 1 container of strawberry face wash and 1 bottle of vanilla souffle face scrub. I haven't tried the chocolate truffle mask yet, however for the earl grey tea & macaroon mask, I don't smell any earl grey tea or macaroon smell when I used it (Seriously, does earl grey tea & macaroon even have a smell??) Unlike the red wine mask which smell strongly of red wine, feels like I am pouring red wine on my face. Anyway, thinks its just a cute gimick thingy as many gals like earl grey tea or macaroon. The strawberry face wash smell like those sweet pink bubble gum instead of strawberry, don't really like the smell. The vanilla souffle scrub is quite nice, comes out as a foam which turned into those little bits of scrubs as I rubbed on my face. Quite fun to use but I still prefer Philosophy Microdelivery Exfoliating wash which is a better scrub for me.

From the left, Shiseido Aqualable White clear foam (this is by far the BEST facial cleanser I ever used!), Shiseido Majolica Majorca Lash Expander Frame Plus (did a good job lengthening the lashes and doesnt irritate my eyes like most other mascara), Kanebo Freshel White C Mineral BB cream SPF 41 PA ++ (my first BB cream, gives v good coverage and blends well with my skin tone.), OPI Katy Perry black shatter nail polish and Kose Seikisho White mask ( this black peel-off mask really whitens and clears the pores but quite painful and caused me to lose some of my eyebrows once.... *ouch*)

Its now less than a month to go for my US trip...counting down the days to go....

Lastly, to end it off, another cute pic of Poochi in the car.

Poochi strapped to the doggy car seat on the way to the Vet. He LOVES to ride in the car.