Hair Scalp massage product

For those who had been to AR salon by Ito san, and wanted to know what is the hair product that us used to massage the scalp, I thought I will take a picture for your benefit since I remembered someone asking me about it before. It's by Milbon.

May 2013 Hair updates: I cut my hair!!!

After years and years and years of long hair, I decided to cut it off finally!!!

I brought my mum along as well since she too needed a trim. As she was there and I didnt want to keep her waiting for me to finish the perm, I have only completed "Part One" of the haircut, which is to cut. I will leave the Part Two- perming another time:)

It was quite uncanny that the minute I sat down, and Ito san asked me what I wanted for today, he started laughing when I said cut it short. He said when I entered the salon, the first thought that flashed across his head was also to suggest having me cut my hair!! So he was both happy and surprised when I suggested it. Talk about synchronised thoughts!!! In fact, he suggested just above shoulder length but I told him shorter.

While I was still talking in the middle of my sentence, Ito san took his scissors and chopped it off and showed me my "hair remains" in a bunch in his hand. My first reaction was "You are so fast!" The other staff laughed because he exclaimed "I havent even have the chance to put the towel and cover over you yet!" We all started laughing. It was quite funny thinking about it. Practically no chance to change my mind, not that I will since I wont suggest it otherwise.

So ....Sayonara my lovely long hair...

Though I didnt have time to perm, I still went ahead to have my hair coloured a lighter shade of brown than my previous. So Beedy and Mandy did my colouring as usual.

After the hair treatment, Beedy continued with the scalp massage and patiently taught me  how to blow dry my short hair so that it wont "hew hei" (in cantonese) - meaning curl outwards like omega sign. The trick is to blow it towards my chin.

 After the hair is blown dry, Ito san did another round of check and trimming

The final hair style in Part One stage. Will update again when I finish Part Two stage with the perm.
I am enjoying my short hair tremendously!! It's like weight lifted off my head!

The funniest joke was that I didnt tell anyone I cut my hair and when I attended my brother's wedding, my blur mum didnt even recognise me (I was wearing my shades). She was shocked but she actually liked it very much. My cousins and all complimented on it, saying it made me looked younger...floating. Ok...they are prob being polite...hahaha.

My man said "It feels like I have a new chick" Lol!

Huge praise to Hainanese Chicken Rice store At Far East Plaza, Singapore.

Wonderful experience today!! 

Took mum and dad to the Hainanese Chicken Rice for lunch at Far East Plaza today. There was a long line and at least 3-4 groups of people before us. I grabbed some spare chairs and had my in laws sat down & wait by the side while I Q. In under 5 mins, the chicken rice stall guy approached our parents, found out they were with me, and immediately sought the consent of the young people before us to serve us first because they didnt want old folks (our parents) to wait so long. This is TRUE service.

I was pleasantly surprised and thanked all the people before us for being nice enough to let us go ahead. Throughout the service, they happily spoke to us in Cantonese and constantly checked on our parents if they are ok. They werent pushy too and told us to order extra later only if the portions really wasnt enough. This is one place that hits the right spots all the way from food to service. 

Thank you!

Value add service @ Jasons Supermart

The thing I really love about Hong Kong is "Service Service Service!" Apart from loaning umbrella and leaving my letters to be posted with the information counter at Times Square shopping mall, I found another new added service elsewhere. Living on HK island,  Life is truly a breeze and the system is here to make life easier for consumers.

I dont know if Singapore Supermarkets offer this value add service since I have been living away for so long, however I found a nugget of surprise here in Hong Kong Supermarket.

I was purchasing my groceries at Jasons Supermart@Hysan Place. While the Filippino cashier was helping me sort out the groceries into my 2 recyclable bag, I remembered to ask for some ice for my meats since I was still going to head for lunch before heading home. As she was slotting the ice inbetween my meat packs, I causally started chatting with her and explained that I still have to head for lunch which explains the need for my ice request. I didnt have to tell her anything but well, it's just me having a chat occasionally with retail staff when I aint in a rush.

The cashier looked up and asked if I was heading out to Causeway bay to have lunch. I told her no, just going upstairs to grab a meal at the food court. Immediately, the cashier told me "Why dont you leave your grocery bags with us, I can even put the meat bag into the fridge. It will save you having to carry 2 heavy bag all over"

I was over the moon. Honestly, I never knew such service existed. The ice service yes but leaving my bag behind and to collect later. I wasnt that surprised since this is Hong Kong but still, it brightens my day. So all I have to do was to fill a form with name and contact number and that's it! I went back 40mins later to collect my purchase with my very satisfied belly.

Thank you Jasons for such fantastic added service.

Recipe: Honeyed Soya sauce with Apple Cider Vinegar Chicken Thighs

Took me 3 separate attempts to perfect this dish to the balanced flavor I like. This is a modified version from the Filippino's version of chicken adobo since I like my meat to be more balanced with a tinge of sweetness. For recipe, read here. It's my all time quick fix dinner that is cooked under 30mins!

In Mandarin, Fitted bedsheet is known as ....?

In Singapore, we commonly refer our bedsheets as 床单, well at least it was in my case.


Today, thanks to a Chinese lady muttering the product label to herself, I just found out that I have been missing out another "bed terminology" my whole life up to this point. 
Fitted bedsheet is also known as 床笠 (li4) here in HK?! At least that's what the sign in Ikea says. 床单 refers to bedspread. OMG!   

Living in Hong Kong has not only taught me a new dialect -Cantonese, it has taught me many Original Mandarin terms and words which has been overly simplified or used inaccurately in Singapore. 


Truly, as long as you are on the lookout, there is something new to be learnt everyday:)

Japanese Style Teriyaki Salmon Recipe

Finally found time to update my all time favorite!

Teriyaki Salmon Recipe -> Read Here in my new blog.

Recipe: Sanma Shioyaki or Japanese Style grilled Pacific Saury

I have finally got round to creating a separate blog for my food recipes... So if you are interested, please bookmark the new website instead... http://atarashicook.blogspot.hk/

Basically recopied some of my old recipes over as well and going to add the new ones there from now on...Just figured to keep my ranting blog separate from my cooking recipes....

Just added a new recipe - Sanma Shioyaki or known as Japanese style Grilled Pacific Saury.
Recipe, read here

Oblivion movie

Just watched Oblivion. It's not bad way to be entertained. It isnt a groundbreaking plot since both my man and I guessed the plot from start till end at the first 10mins. That's how predictable it is...but still, I would say it is an enjoyable movie nonetheless.

Basically it's about this drone repair tech guy Jack Harper who goes around servicing damaged drone killer machine that had undergone battles with the scavengers. Scavengers are the invaders of earth who refused to back off even when the world is nuked and half the place is destroyed with radiation.

However, Jack Harper kept having dreams about this woman but he didnt know who. His partner as well as colleague told him not to think about it and just focus on doing a good job so that they can return to mother ship Titan.

Through chanced encounter, Jack Harper saw something falling through the sky and he went to investigate. To his shock, he found human survivors only to be killed by the drone who went to investigate. Jack only managed to save one, the female crew who appeared in his dreams.

The rescued lady wanted to check the flight recordings and Jack against all rules, took her out and just when they found the recording, they were captured by scavengers.

The scavengers wanted and needed Jack's tech expertise in their master attack plan. They were ready to kill him and the rescued lady but one of the scavenger let him loose to "decide" for himself.

When Jack Harper learned the truth, he was shocked but that;s when things heat up.

I wont tell you the ending but it's a good predictable ending.


The only part we didnt quite linked up was firstly, how did the scavengers know the code to the spaceship to beckon it back to earth, and secondly, how did they on earth, knows that there are any spaceshuttle survivors out there? Why should they not assume they are dead and why did they take 60years to even attempt it?

Anycase, I am still trying to second guess if the the 1st leading lady knew, or didnt know the rescued leading lady 2's connection with Jack Harper all along? Mainly because of the line "It's always about her isnt it" or something along that...made me wonder if she harboured some secret liking for Jack even before all the world changes happened....

Plus, why did the 2nd tech repair guy venture into the radiation zone to try to repair the drone?
Isnt the radiation zone strictly off limits?

I havent watched Iron man 3 yet. Gonna wait till my man gets home from his biz trip.

Recipe: Ginger Oyster Sauce Chicken with Mushrooms and Carrots

There are variations to this but I decided to post the one with the updated version with the condensed rich sauce which my man loves. When he polishes off the chicken, he would keep the sauce and dip it with bread: ) I added carrots coz I like them, and also wolfberries to sweeten the sauce more so that I can use less sugar.

Oyster Drumsticks with Chinese Mushrooms and carrots

I didnt follow the traditional recipe below and modify it to be "oyster ginger sauce chicken with chinese mushroom" instead, with less dark soy sauce (hence the lighter shade of brown). Also, I dont like to add too much sodium or refined sugar if I can help it.
So u can adjust the oyster to 2TBsp if you want more flavour and rich sauce.

Ingredients

- pack of chilled dozen wings/or drumlettes / or 4 drumsticks
- 2 inch ginger sliced into thin slices (for frying)
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 1 large smashed garlic clove with skin on (for flavoring oil)
- 1 carrot (optional), cut into 1 inch chucks
- 1 inch of grated ginger
- 6 presoaked Chinese Mushrooms or Shitake Mushrooms or Button mushrooms
- half brown or red onion, cut into chucks (you dont want them too small).
- Rinsed Wolfberries (optional, amount up to you but a small handful. Soak rinsed berries with 2 TBSP of water.)
- 1 normal size mug of water
- 2 stalks of rinsed spring onion

Sauces

- 1.5Tb Light soy sauce
- 1Tb Oyster sauce
- 1 tsp of sugar
- Dash of white or grated black pepper
- 1.5Tbsp  Chinese wine or Shaoxing Wine
- 1tsp of sesame oil
- 2Tbsp of cooking oil. 


Cooking Steps

1. Marinate chicken wings/ drumlets/ drumsticks with all the sauces above, except the sesame oil. 

2. Add the grated ginger and minced garlic and mix well.

3. Leave the marinate to work for at least 20mins.

4. Heat pan with 1 TBSP of cooking oil. Add onion chucks, sliced ginger. Stir fry till onion is starts to soften.

5. Add Chinese Mushrooms and wolfberries & the water.

6. Add 1tsp if Sesame Oil after about 5mins. Stiry fry for another 2mins.

7. Remove from pan all cooked ingredients into a bowl. (Dont prolong or sesame taste will b diluted to nothing. We want to retain a hint)

8. In a clean frying pan, add the remaining 1TBsp cooking oil.

9. When oil is hot, add the clove of smashed garlic to the oil and when it browns, remove.

10. Add sliced ginger and cook till starting to turn light brown. Add 2 half stalks of spring onion (the white part) add the drumsticks, but NOT the marinate sauce. If the chicken starts to stick, u may add a little more olive cooking oil.

11. After about 3mins of turning the chicken drumstick around and nicely brown the skin, add the marinate sauce and add 1 mug of water to dilute. If the sauce is still too salty, you may add more water till it reaches the saltiness level you like. 

12. Add the chopped carrots, this will help sweeten the sauce so dont add any sugar before this.

13. Close the lid of the pot/ wok and at medium flame, give it 10mins. This steam cooking will cook more evenly and soften your carrots nicely.

14. Usually large drumsticks are easy to tell if they are cook when you stop seeing the pink juices seeping out at the top. However, to test if drumstick is cook, poke a fork through. If you still see a lot of red blood juice running out, that means its not ready, stick it with lid close for another 2mins. Retest. Once u see clear juice, its cooked. If u still see a slight pink after alot of clear juices, its fine. the meat will continue to cook within for another few mins on its own. 

15. The sauce should be nice and rich now. If u like it more watery you can add water here and salt/sugar to adjust taste. Usually I dont have to.

16. Throw back the cooked mushroom and onions in.

17. Give it a good toss to combined the mixture.

18. Garnish with chopped spring onion (the green part) if you like.

Recipe: Pan fried Pork Chop, served with lightly boiled Asparagus.

I love asparagus. I would always order them when i dine out because I had never cook them at home (till today). I havent tried to cook them again after my first not so tasty experience back in Singapore, when I was in college like over a decade ago. I had the small narrow ones and I had prob not bought the freshest of the lot and so it turned out chewy...

So today, after reading through this French cookbook that taught me how to prepare asparagus and cook them, I decided to give it a go and ....they turned out beautifully!!!! Apparently there are several ways to cook them but I reckon this simple French way is the best. Even without seasonings, the asparagus was naturally sweet and retains the crunch when bought fresh. I kid u not.

Unseasoned Boiled Asparagus & cherry tomatoes

Time to Cook both vege and meat concurrently: 15mins
Time to Prep: 10mins
Time to marinate pork: Minimal 2hours before hand.
Served 2 pax

Ingredients

- a pack of fresh asparagus that should be firm at the stalk, and no holes through the stalk.
- 1.5tbsp of salt.
- a pot big enough to lay the asparagus horizontally flat while cooking

Cooking Steps

- After purchase, fill a cup or container with cold water and stick asparagus upright until u are ready to cook them.

shaved asparagus upright in container

- Peel the asparagus from the stalk, use a small vege knife cut 1/16 into the layer to remove the woody chewy layer. As you move progressively up to the tip, the cut gets shallower. You should see the tender lighter green under surfacing as you slice away the top layer. Stick them back in the container.
Tip: Dont use peeler, it's not effective enough.

- Once peeled and ready,  Fill the uncovered pot with enough water to be able to cover the asparagus. that's prob abt 1/3 pot guide.

- Add the salt and bring to a boil.

- Add the rinsed peeled asparagus into the salted water pot. When the water starts to boil again, turn the heat down to low and simmer for about 10-12 mins, pot uncovered. (time depending on the thickness)

- To check if its ready, take one out. If your butter knife cuts into the bottom stalk, its cooked.

Remove from water and ready to serve.

Tip: If you like, u may pop the cherries into the hot water for a quick soak before serving. Read somewhere that cooked tomato skin delivers more antioxidants than uncooked ones. 

Tip: Asparagus can keep for another 20mins after cooking. If u are cooking ahead, you can dip the cooked asparagus in ice cold water to stop the ongoing cooking within the veg, and then quickly dip into hot water when ready to serve warm. 

Ingredients for the pan fried pork

- 2 pork chop with bone in (about 1 inch thick)
- half red onion
- a quarter cinnamon stick (optional)

Marinate sauce
- 1tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp of chinese rice wine
- 1 tsp of pepper
- dash of salt
- slightly under 1tbsp of light soy sauce (i used the kikoman less salt version)
- 1tbsp of sugar.
- 1 egg white

Cooking Steps

1. Mix all the sauces together. Taste for salty level and adjust to taste. Cut back the salt if too salty

2. Add the egg white and beat lightly together with the sauces.

3.  Pour the mixed sauce into the zip lock plastic bag and add pork in. Fully cover the meat with sauces to marinate.

4. Leave the marinated meat in fridge for at least 2 hours. Best 4 hours.

5. When ready to cook, add butter or olive oil or coconut oil to frying pan at medium heat

6. Add the pork. For me, I would cover the lid to ensure my pork is being cooked inside.
Note: Semi-cooked pork contains parasites that may host inside your brain...

7. Turn the flame down to low with lid covered so that you dont burnt your meat.

8. Flip over after about 5 mins, your skin would be nicely brown. Repeat for other side for another 5 mins.

9. Depending on your meat thickness, if yours is a thin slab, after 3-4mins on the other side, you could take it out and slice a little near the bone to check if its thoroughly cooked. if not, then give it the full 5 mins.

10. Remove from pan and rest the meat on the side.

11. Add the onion in the pan and quicky stir fry with a quarter of cinnamon stick till it is soft..

12. Add a little water to the marinate sauce left over and bring to boil with onion. Adjust taste as needed with salt or sugar. Because of the eggwhite, it will not be clear sauce, so filter and sieve off as preferred.

Dinner is served with rice.

Recipe: Chicken Drumsticks Carrot soup, with Chinese Mushrooms & wolfberries.

I normally make chicken soup with a whole Australian free range chicken but today, I finetuned the recipe to make soup only with chicken drumstick and it turned out surprisingly delicious.

Chicken Drumstick Soup with carrots, chinese mushrooms & wolfberries.

Over the years, I have only been cooking for 2 pax and found it so easy, so I honestly fail to understand the "excuses" that "its so hard to cook for 2 pax so I dont cook." theory. Think of all the benefits of cooking your own meals. No salt. No sugar. Only wholesome goodness...Not to mention all the minor tweaks to customise it to your taste. To me, its hands down win :)

So here's my easy to make chicken soup.

Portion: 2 pax.
Time to prep & cook: 1.5hrs

Ingredients
- 4 medium size drumsticks.
- 5 medium size presoaked Chinese Mushrooms
- 2 tbsp of rinsed wolf berries.
- 8 deseeded red dates.
- 5 slices of rinsed Chinese Yam. (optional)
- A small handful of lily bulbs in a tea pouch (optional)
- 1 large Australian fresh carrot, or 2 mid size.
- 2 dried presoaked small scallops. (normally I would presoak for 5-10mins prior so that its not that strong)
- 2 inch of smashed ginger without skin.

Cooking steps

1. Fill soup pot with 2 L of water. Bring to Boil.

2. Throw in sliced mushrooms, chinese yam, dried scallops, red dates, ginger into pot and bring to boil with medium heat for 20mins with lid close.

3. In a separate pot, boil water and cook drumstick for about 5 mins. Throw away the water.

4. Add the drumsticks into the soup pot to cook with other ingredients. Turn flame down to small.

5. Close lid and leave to simmer for an hour.

6. Add wolfberries, close lid, cook for another 15mins.

Done. Served with rice.

Tip: You can replace carrots with daikon (white radish).
1. However, I recently learnt that you should not mix daikon with red carrot as the Vit C in radish is destroyed by carrots. You should cook them separately.

2. Radish is considered cooling property vege, so not suitable for all people.. More importantly, one should NOT consume radish while taking medication esp antibiotics as it is said to neutralise the effects of the medication.

Recipe: Black Bean Soup with Pork Ribs, with Wolfberries

Wanting to break out of my comfort zone, I decided to google the net and see what sort of "new" healthy chinese soup I could make for myself and my man, yet still easy enough without the complicated hassle. 

So....I tried making Black bean Pork rib soup for the first time and it actually turned out splendid, not to mention how easy it was...

Black Bean Pork Rib Soup, with wolfberries.

Featuring - Black Bean or Turtle bean.
Not the prettiest of the lot but it sure is cheap and choke full of goodness with benefits such as 
-  Digestive Tract Benefits
- Benefits for Blood Sugar Regulation (esp for diabetic Type 2 people I suppose)
- Cardiovascular Benefits
- impressive array of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory phytonutrients

Dont take my word for it, check out the details from link below.
(source: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=2)

Ingredients 

- 150grams of whole black beans
- 300-400gram of soup pork ribs and pork shank combined
(I personally like pork shank so that its so soft and edible after the soup is done)
- Rinsed 8 deseeded red dates (Not suitable for diabetic people: Benefits : Read Link)
- Rinsed 2 tbsp (or more) of wolf berries
- Rinsed 5 slices of Chinese yam (optional. Benefits : Read Link )
- 2 inch smashed ginger without skin (Smashed allows the flavor to leak out faster)
- 2 presoaked small scallops. (presoaked for 10 mins to reduce the overwhelmingly strong taste)

Cooking Steps

1. Rinse the black beans. Remove the cracked ones, or those that looked just looked spoiled.

2. Boil a pot of water (depending on your pot size, guide is to use enough water to cover all beans. I figured 600ml or more will suffice. You wont need the water later so the actual amount doesnt matter. I would measure the amount in advance first after you have rinsed the beans. )

3. Once the water is boiling, add in black beans and boil for about 2 mins.
This step is to shorten the cooking time required later.

4. Soak the beans for at least another 1-2 hours. 
Soaking step is VERY important. Please do not skip this. You can always presoak the beans overnight if you are in rush for time.

5. After the soaked beans are ready, rinsed pork. Use hot boiling water and pour over bones and meat and leave it to soak for couple of mins. For me, its more for hygiene purpose to kill any surface germs. If you use lean meat then you wont get much scum.

6. In a separate pot, fill with 2L water and boil. Add in all the pork bones and meat and soaked black beans, ginger, red dates. Cover lid.

7.Stay on high heat for another 30mins. Remove any scum. Turn down heat to medium-low. Cook for another 50mins or until the rich flavor of the soup is attained.  
 (Tip: Do not stay on high heat or the bean will absorb the soup and u will be left with nothing)

8. Towards the last 50mins, add in wolfberries into soup.
Wolfberries cook quickly esp with closed lid, so give it 10-15mins will suffice.

Done. Served with rice.

Personally, I dont normally add salt to soup unless I really have to. So leave salt for final tasting up to the individual. It is important NOT to ADD salt during the cooking process as it will affect the bean.

Recipe: Pan fried fish fillet (Chinese style)

I normally like my fish steamed but once in a while when I crave to have porridge
 (Not congee. Congee is the Cantonse style where rice is completely disintegrated but porridge is the type you still see the rice grain in full and you get the benefit of rice soup/water - which is good to stop tummy runs.)

Tried frying fish for the first time.
I think I overcooked mine, forgetting that mackeral is less fatty than salmon and thus 5 mins was excessive.... However, all in all, it was good and definitely something I would want to perfect to make it taste like mum's. Not quite there yet for mine. I will come back here after i refined the recipe.

Pan fry fish

Ingredients:

- Mackerel or any white fish fillet you like.
- Sliced 2 inch of ginger into thin slices for frying
- 1 stalk of spring onion for garnish
- Shaoxing wine - 1 capful
- 2 tbsp of dark soya sauce
- 2 tbsp of light soya sauce
- dash of sugar into the soya sauce combined
- dash of white pepper
- 1 tbsp of sesame oil

Cooking Steps:

1. Marinate fish fillet with shaoxing wine, salt (dash) for about 20mins.
(throw in thin slices of ginger if you have extra on the fish to marinate as well)
2. Heat oil in frying pan. When oil is ready, add in sliced ginger slices. Remove from pan once it starts to brown.
3. Add fish fillet to pan fry until it turns brown. Remove from pan.
4. The remaining combined soya sauces, throw to the pan and heat. Drizzle over the fish. Add garnish.

PS: From my experience, it prob takes about 2 mins on one side or less depending on your thickness.

Recipe: Apple Pork Ribs soup

Tried a new pork soup recipe today. It's a super light refreshing soup that is a nice change from all the heavy flavour soup.

Ingredients

- 300-400grams Soup pork bones (西施骨）and pork shank (the more you have, the sweeter the soup is and lesser time to boil)
- 2-3 red large ripe apples
- 6-8 deseeded red dates
- 1 white onion cut in slices
- 2 Honey dates
- 1-2 Carrots (optional)
- 2 inch ginger smashed (optional)

Cooking Steps

1. Rinse and deseed the apples. I left the skin on.
2. Rinse pork. You can choose to boil the raw bones until the scum is out and scope out, before starting your soup pork or you can rinse the pork with boiling water.
(If u bought the fresh pork from wet market or butcher, you can do the former but if you bought the meat from supermarket, I would just rinse with boiling water else I noticed my final soup is always very bland and less sweet if I cook the bones first time round)
3. Heat the water, 3/4 full and add the smashed ginger, pork bones and shank and honey dates.
4. High heat for half hour and turn to medium heat.
5. Cook for an hour and when the scum and "filth" appears, scoop and remove.
6. Add in the red apples and red dates. Cook for another 50mins on medium - medium low heat depending on the type of pot you use. I use the stainless WMF steel mid-size, so I stuck to just under medium heat.