Water Daily

*This is definitely an unpaid post*

I'm not the biggest fan of drinking plain water and I know that. The idea of gulping 2.5 liters of plain water throughout the day is kinda..an unpleasant one. Hence my body suffers the consequences of my laziness and I learned the hard way, trust me on this one.

But I sorta got a revelation a week ago and drinking 2.5 liters or more of plain water is not (actually) that bad. And with the help of Water Daily app in my phone, things got pretty easy. It's just the downside of drinking too much plain water is the frequent of me going to the toilet. But then again, not being able to pee at all is unimaginable. So I still am grateful to Allah for being able to pee normally. Count your blessing peeps!

[I have 5 hours to go until my bedtime & another 20% (500 mL) left until I achieve my goal for today]

So here goes the link to the free app of Water Daily >> click here. If you're lazy like me, please, please, drink your plain water!

Heatwave

Last week was one of the hottest weeks for Melbourne. 40+ deg in 4 days and straight in a row was a total MADNESS! But above all, what else can you do except to just embraced it, slapped a good amount of sunscreen lotion and took a train to the beach. ;)

SUMMER SWIM AT WILLIAMSTOWN BEACH

[Shot using GoPro]

[Background music by Bloc Party (This Modern Love)]

Simple Pleasure

Sorta like a spontaneous decision we've made, 2 hours before the sunset. Took a tram nearby our house and off we went to St Kilda Beach. Sat at the deck for a good 40 minutes with a cuppa latte, embracing the cold and super windy weather just to get this shot. No tweak, no edit to the video. Just the way it is. :)

[HD] Sunset St Kilda from Aim Aris on Vimeo.

SUNSET AT ST KILDA

[Shot using GoPro]

[Background music by Arcade Fire (Photograph)]

Random Muse

It's so obvious that I only blog when I got nothing to do. Haha.

I'm currently jobless and no longer a student. I'm alright with that and I guess my husband's alright with that too. But it's kinda sucks not having or earn my own money. With us downsizing to a new house, it's pretty sucks to not being able to shop (just yet). I really hope my right hand will be feeling itchy very soon. :)

Before that, I don't know why I'm so scared with fresh mozzarella balls and corn in my salad before. Sigh...

I'm still here

Heaps of things in my mind right now. Uncertainty - a good word to describes what we're facing right now but we're just gonna leave everything to Allah, for He knows what's the best for us. :)

In the mean time, I'm still here...

Vegan Thursday

Not a big fan of vegetables before...but people change over time! Hahaha.

Who would've thought I'll be having #veganthursday from now on. Not me, definitely! Inspired by the menu that we always have at Mina-no-ie, I try to make something close to it - raw vegan salad with radish, fresh cucumber, baby spinach, broad beans, carrot and glass noodles and lime, reduced salt soy sauce, honey and olive oil dressing ; braised tofu with mushrooms in soy sauce (I marinate the tofu beforehand with garlic, ginger, red onion, chilli, oyster sauce, reduced salt soy sauce, black pepper and honey); and brown rice mixed with quinoa. Verdict: positively good! Shall try more recipes very soon. 

I'm loving the veges from now on!

Graduated

Alhamdulillah...

There are so many things that I wanna share here but I've been really busy or simply lazy. I'm currently jobless and somehow feel kinda naked (literally!) and identity-less the moment I've submitted my thesis and done with my postgraduate study. Like I'm no longer a student - only just a wife or a woman. :( And not that I'm not proud to be a wife or a woman, mind you? It's just...it's more than that.

Have any of you guys ever felt this way before?

Anyway I guess I need to pick myself up and start doing what I should be doing now. I got heaps of things in my to-do list! :)

Recipe: Guilt-Free Chocolate Cupcake

Back in Malaysia I was kinda opposed to the idea of 'healthy' baking. Probably because of the lacking of flavor and the right texture or simply because the price of the ingredients to make such 'healthy' baked goodies are just ridiculously expensive. Anyway I'm slowly integrating my baking to a more healthier version and husband seems to enjoy it. So I guess it's a definite green light from him, no?

So for today, I whipped this beautiful but simple chocolate cupcake in less than 10 minutes to end our good nasi kandar journey (cooked ayam masak kicap berempah, nasi kandar style last night) since last night. And boy, I'm glad I did that. It was perfect!

Teresa Cutter's Healty Chocolate Cupcake

Source: here

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups (150 g) almond meal

1/4 cup (21 g) unsweetened good quality cocoa powder 

1 tsp of baking powder

2 free range/organic eggs

1 tsp of vanilla extract

60 ml (1/4 cup) of light olive oil

60 ml (1/4 cup) almond milk

2 tbsp of pure honey

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180C

2. Combine sieved almond meal, cocoa powder and baking powder

3. Add the eggs, oil, milk and pure honey, mix well

4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients together and mix well until form a smooth batter

5. Spoon the batter into cupcake tin/liner

6. Bake for 25 minutes until puffed and cooked through

Verdict:

Love, love, love! This is definitely my go-to cupcake from now on, at least!

Coffee Talk

Sipping a cuppa latte with husband at Mr Tulk's just now. We were talking about "what-if", "what's gonna be like if" sorta questions and it was just too overwhelming for us.

Sometimes we're wondering if we're making the right decisions in life? Nah, like others, we had our own revelations and we're gonna make it happens!

Wintercoats

We met this boy at the last  Finders Keepers Market in Melbourne. Enjoyed his music. Brilliant, brilliant. We were just wondering back then what will happens if a dose of him is added to Mew's? Must be AMAZING! Oh well, we're hoping to see more of him in near future. 

Come on, I think we all need satire in life, no?

"If the right people don't have power, do you know what happens? The wrong people get it!..."

I'm not gonna talk about 'you-know-what' in my blog. But what I do know is that what's wrong, is wrong and what's right, is right, regardless of different background, race, religion or political view.

Come on, I think we all need satire in life, no?

Sanctuary

I've found my sanctuary! I think this is one of the best place I've been in Melbourne. Okay..I think I'm exaggerating a bit! But seriously I really love the new sewing lounge at Thread Den. Not only that it's really close to my house but the fact that the ladies are so friendly and funny, I'm proud to say that I've found my sanctuary when I needed my me time especially when husband's not around.

Sewing alone can be pretty stressful, no?

THREAD DEN

3d/26 Wellington St

Collingwood, VIC

Australia

info@threadden.com

Fabric hand-printing my way!

Phew! At last I'm done with  fabric printing for my group members of Handprinted: A Fabric Swap III challenge. I had an amazing time despite having wasted few meters of fabric beforehand. Hahaha. Anyway it's gonna be a busy day for me at the post office tomorrow, as I'm yet to send out all the parcels for my lovely Rita, Ira, Angela, Jennet, Amy and Rachael. I'm such a queen of procrastination! Sigh. 'Nuff talking and let's talk about my way of doing the fabric painting shall we?

I know there are lotsa tutorials out there for fabric printing and one of the best method is the silk screen printing, where the fabric paint will come out smooth and perfect on the fabric. But apparently I'm a bit lazy to make my own screen so I opt to use a store-bought stencil (got it at cheap price from Spotlight!) and tape it on a piece of baking sheet paper. Creative right? Haha. I then used a sponge roller and roll the fabric paint onto the stencil gently. The result...just perfect! And if you ask me how do I feel about the outcome of it, I must say I'm pretty impress of myself too. Haha. 

Thought of doing more fabric painting for my upcoming flea market event lah. What do you reckon? ;)

P.s.: Crossing my fingers, hoping the ladies will love the fabric as much as I enjoyed doing it! :)

April-mazing!

April's gonna be a busy month for me and I'm really stoked about the new journey of Fabulous Floral in Melbourne. There will be a social sewing night at Thread Den, few crafty classes co-hosted by Fabulous Floral and flea market in Fitzroy. It's gonna be wonderful!

A wonderful way to celebrate my birthday, I reckon? :)

Can't Live With The World

Laura Mvula Can't Live With The World
I adore her beautiful voice and when I listen to this song, I remembered the first day we set foot in Melbourne. The 'warmness' of that cold winter. It's somewhat comforting yet overwhelming...

Match made in heaven

Homemade marshmallows in hot chocolate. The best! Recipe adapted from Cooking For Engineers. And fyi since I don't have any corn syrup at home, I've substituted it for honey instead. 

Recipe: Fluffy Nutella Buttercream Frosting

I can only say two words when I've tried this buttercream frosting. PURE PERFECTION. :)

Fluffy Nutella Buttercream Frosting

Source: Kitchen Treaty

Ingredients:

1 cup of unsalted butter

2 cups of powdered sugar/icing sugar

2/3 cup of Nutella

1 tsp of pure vanilla extract

pinch of kosher salt (up to 1/4 tsp, to taste)

2 tbsp of heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1. In a stand mixer affixed with paddle attachment, beat together butter and powdered sugar until well blended. Add Nutella and increase the speed to medium. Beat for 2 minutes.

2. Add vanilla extract and salt and whip for an additional 30 seconds.

3. Add whipping cream and beat for about 1 minute until the frosting lightens slightly in both color and texture.

Recipe: Yorkshire Pudding and Smoked Trout

 

I made this for our breakfast this morning, Jamie Oliver's Yorkshire pudding with whipped feta, smashed avocado and smoked trout. Husband just loved it! :)

Jamie Oliver's Yorkshire Pudding

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil

100g of plain flour

100ml of milk

2 large eggs

Salt 

Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 240C.

2. Pour a bit of vegetable oil in muffin tin and put it in the oven for a good 10-15 minutes.

3. Dump everything together in a bowl and mix well. Pour the mixture in a jug.

4.  Once the muffin tin has been heated for a good 10-15 minutes, get it out and pour the mixture into the muffin tin.

5. Bake for another 10-12 minutes until it's puffy and golden. 

Whipped Feta

Ingredients:

Feta cheese

Greek yogurt

Olive oil

Chives

Lemon juice

Pepper

Directions:

1. Dump everything in your food processor.

2. Blitz until smooth.

3. Season according to your taste.

Routine?

 

Hope I'll be more discipline this time. I really mean it...

Recipe: Healthy Chocolate and Walnut Brownies

I think it's time for both of us to eat more healthy food than we used to before. Living in Melbourne where majority of the people are very conscious of what they put in their mouth, making healthy and organic food really cheap here and it's a really good advantage to us. So I say today, is the day!

So I made a very healthy chocolate and walnut brownies just now. And the very best part of it was, I used olive oil and Greek yogurt in the brownies mixture to replaced butter and milk. Sounds Mediterranean 'nuff for ya? Lol. And nutritionally speaking a piece of this brownies is just equivalent to 150 cal only (source: www.olivetomato.com)! Oh yeah! Well anyway I've simplified the method to make it from the original recipe but nonetheless the brownies still yield that perfect moist, chocolaty and yummy brownies. So here goes the recipe: 

Super Healthy Chocolate and Walnut Brownies

Source: here

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of olive oil

1/4 cup of low-fat Greek yogurt

3/4 cup of sugar

1 tsp of vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup of flour

1/3 cup of cocoa powder (you can add 1-2 tbsp more)

1/4 tsp of baking powder

1/4 tsp of salt

1/3 cup of chopped walnuts

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven at 180C and line your baking tin with baking paper.

2. Dump everything in a bowl and mix it well with a mixer.

3. Pour the mixture in the baking tin and smooth the top layer of the mixture with spatula.

4. Bake for 25 minutes.