Customised Pencil Case

I know most people my age and even younger no longer carry a pencil case around.  In fact, most totally abandon the concept the moment they graduated.  For some reason, I could never behave like any normal person could; years after completing my formal education, I am still walking around with a pencil case in my bag, complete with pens, pencils, highlighters.  You know, the full works.  I even brought it to work (when I was working) and used my own stationery instead of using those issued by the company.  You could see that I thrive in familiarity, especially writing contraptions.

So, I designed a pencil case using fabric I like in the ideal size I would like it to be in.  This project was designed and sketched on paper before I realised that I didn’t have enough of one of the three fabrics I planned on using for this pencil case.  So it waited for a couple of days till I had time to head for town to replenish the stock.

This was done in the middle of the night when the hubby was away on his overnight shift.  I thought the lace was a nice touch although I have to confess that the sewing quality isn’t up to par in this particular project.  But hey, I could only improve with more practice.  At the moment, I’m trying to clock one project per week.

Did I ever mention that I love pouches?

109/250

My Homemade Travel Organiser

Thanks to technology advancement (and the invention of tablets, in specific the iPad), our mode of operation during travel has also been evolving to keep up.  I used to kill trees and some by printing flight and train schedules, accommodation addresses, email correspondences and maps.  I felt bad, but I wanted to be well-prepared half a world away from home.  Not so anymore; I’ve ‘outsourced’ much of printing to the iPad.  Best invention, in my opinion.

And so, apart from our trusty iPad, we now travel with a downsized travel organiser instead of a booklet I used to compile.  I found a picture of a finished travel organiser on the internet, but the creator did not share her template because she sells the organisers.  Therefore I had to work out the dimensions based on our requirements – snugly holding two passports in their covers, fitting A4 papers folding into halves and another slot that fits train tickets, rought paper, post-its etc.

I painstakingly matched three fabrics (I don’t have much of a creative eye) after precisely drawing out a plan of our one and only travel organiser.  This organiser required quite a bit of flipping back and forth, about 5 to 6 times. Midway into the project I made some changes and decided not to go ahead with the pen look and button flap I initially designed it to have.  Thought the flap was redundant and the hubby didn’t like the idea of a pen loop.  And this is the final product.

Despite being a novice at making such stuff, the organiser’s dimension actually turned out just right.  Our passports fitted into the slots snugly, and the upper flap I designed to keep the passports from dropping out by accident worked like a charm too.  The hubby did complain that the little flap I catered for boarding passes is a little too shallow, and I agree.  Somehow I forgot to factor in the thickness of the passports, but the flap will still work.

This organiser’s usefulness will be tested out very soon, on our short trip to Seoul.  Although I’m happy with this cute little travel organiser I can think of a couple of adjustments to be made, and I’m sure the trip would shed some light on how it could be improved.  I will probably attempt another one when I can find fabrics that match, and also design another one for a solo traveller.

105/250

The Perfect Headset Pouch

Since the shipment of fabric I bought on Etsy.com arrived, the hubby had been bugging me, almost on a daily basis, for his headset pouch.  But well… my confidence has taken a dip since the botched project, and I have been fairly unwilling to get on my sewing machine of late.

Finally, I decided on one evening to just work on it.  And I am pleased with the results.

Some adjustments were made to the overall dimensions.  And also added batting to give it shape.  The resultant is a pouch that carries the headset almost perfectly (now the hubby complains that it fits so well he can’t put other stuff in it, but what other stuff does he need in the pouch, I asked).  In other words, he’s quite happy with his cute little pouch too.

102/250

THE Korean Restaurant in Singapore

I have, on several occasions, lamented about the plight of Korean Cuisine lovers in Singapore – one just doesn’t seem to find decent Korean fare.  But fret not, fellow countrymen, for I think I have found the restaurant that I am willing to return to time after time.  And the restaurant that has won me over permanently?  Hyang-To-Gol Korean Restaurant located on the 2nd Level at Amara Hotel.

I cannot not talk about a bunch of folks I just got to know 3 months back when I talk about this restaurant, because they were the reason why I was even there in the first place.  The 4 other ladies and 1 gentleman I dined with that evening were the very same folks I sat with at the same table for 10 weeks during my Korean Language Class.  We made a pact to dine together during our semestral break of 2 weeks but couldn’t decide on the location (although we were set on Korean Cuisine).  Finally, N recommended Hyang-To-Gol in our WhatsApp conversation.  Since the restaurant allowed reservations (while the other restaurant the other classmates suggested do not), we concurred to give it a try.

You might be shocked at the plethora of dishes on our table if this is the first time you are exposed to Korean Cuisine.  It looks scary, but if you look closely, a lot of the dishes are what the Koreans call 반찬 (‘Banchan’), which are essentially small portions of side dishes.  And each of us had 3 dishes of sauces.  That resulted in the crazily filled table, so filled that the waitresses even had problems looking for space to lay down the dishes we ordered.  In spite of what you might believe, we didn’t order very much food.  In fact, the 5 ladies in the company finished up all the food because the only gentleman with us is currently suffering from an ailment that affects his appetite adversely.  Poor W, get well soon!

Clearly, the ladies eat like I do – little bits of everything.  I was happy to dine with them because if the hubby were dining with me, the table would be filled with meat dishes and ddukbokki (떡볶이), my favourite Korean snack food.  That crazy evening I got to eat some meat, seafood pancake (해물파전), Kimchi stew (김치찌개), mixed rice served in hot stone bowl (돌솥 비빔밥) and of course my ddukbokki (떡볶이).  The meats, in my opinion, were not very tasty but I’m not about to make a sweeping statement based solely on the 3 meat dishes we ordered.  I don’t usually deal with the ordering when with the hubby, so I will only make another conclusion about the meats after another visit with him.  But everything else tasted great, so tasty that they were comparable to what I have had in Korea itself.  Well I have eaten better-tasting ddukbokki and seafood pancake in Seoul, but the Kimchi stew and Bibimbap were really, really tasty.  You have to try these 2 dishes if you ever drop by, especially the Kimchi stew.

I always maintain that, to really learn if the restaurant is serving authentic cuisine, look around at the other patrons.  At Hyang-To-Gol, majority of the patrons are native Koreans.  Hey, if the native Koreans think that the restaurant serves up pretty good authentic Korean Cuisine, I am apt to believe them.

Although the 6 of us are rather close-knitted in class, we found out more about one another over dinner that evening.  It’s always easier to bond when a group has a common interest – in this case, our love for the Korean Language.  To be exact, we all love different aspects of the Korean culture – W, T and I are into K-Pop; W, T, M, N and I are into K-Dramas, and all of us are into Korean Cuisine!  With the exception of C, we are all picking up the language for self-interest.  C has business dealings with Koreans, so she’s strictly speaking picking up the language for work but we are trying to convert her.

This meal cost slightly over S$250.  Because W just took a biteful of the ddukbokki and half a spoonful of rice, we decided that it is not fair to make him pay.  Among the 5 of us, we split the bill.  You could definitely do the sums.  This restuarant is really reasonably priced.

Consuming too much barbecued food is purported to cause cancer so I do consume with this fact in mind.  The problem lies with the hubby and I being totally spoilt by the good food in Japan and Korea.  It’s very frustrating that we frequently cannot find food of the same quality in Singapore.  I cannot begin to even describe how elated I am to be headed for Seoul in 2 weeks’.

Did I mention I really love this bunch of new friends I made?  Hopefully we will all attain proficiency in the language together.  여러분,  열심히  공부세요!

Hyang-To-Gol Korean Restaurant
165 Tanjong Pagar Road
2F The Amara
Singapore 088539
Tel: +65-6220-7160
Opening Hours:
1130-1500hrs; 1800-2230hrs

99/250

Weekly Photo Challenge: Together

Forever is a long time, since we are now living in an increasingly cynical world where the Holy Matrimony is deemed to be just a piece of paper contract between two individuals (and they don’t even need to be an Adam and an Eve nowadays, if you get what I mean).  Some people use this to get themselves married and dismarried several times, while other use this to remain unmarried.  To each his own.  But within my limited ability, I would like to honour my marriage vows as long as I could.  In this respect, the photograph that I chose today to depict Together is one that illustrates togetherness in maintaining a marriage.  Kind of.

We fell in love with Italy when we first toured the 4 representative cities any first-timers to the charming country (i.e. Rome, Florence, Milan and Venice) should step foot on as part of our honeymoon tour.  A vow to return only materialised 4 years later, where we decided to do an extensive 18-day trip of the northern part of the country.  Included this time in the itinerary is the gorgeous UNESCO Heritage Site of Cinque Terre where  it has since been declared a protected marine area and national park.  Naturally, we must hike the trail that links the five villages.  With our physical abilities (or lack of) in mind, we decided to challenge the Sentiero Azzuro (otherwise known as the ‘Blue Trail).  Don’t read too much into the colours; the trail is denoted in blue colour in maps therefore the name.

The easiest part of the trail is between the first 2 villages of Riomaggiore and Manarola.  It’s mostly flattish, and very manageable to walk.  This stretch of the trail is known as the Via dell’Amore (or ‘Pathway of Love’).  Apparently there is a bit of history behind the name, so if you are interested, click here to read more about it.

So, towards the end of this particular stretch of path, we sighted a fence decorated with some padlocks.  We figured the authorities must have recently removed the old padlocks put on by lovers.  Either that, or the fence is new. We didn’t have any padlock to spare, but the hubby was quick-witted enough to use a strip of the velcro I cut to tidy the straps on our backpacks.  And between the two of us, one of us is bound to have a pen in the bag.

After some effort in writing on the velcro, we stuck what must have been the strangest padlock-substitute onto the fence.  There is a Chinese saying that goes ‘A family that eats together, stays together’.  And mine?  I would say ‘A couple that travels together, stays together’.

95/250

Japanese Swiss Rolls

It’s been a while since I attended baking classes because honestly, I have attended far too many and I feel I need to get down to baking more than attending classes.  But when I read about this class, I knew I had to attend.  The Japanese instructor would be teaching her way of baking matcha swiss rolls and macarons, and strawberry shortcake swiss rolls.  I love matcha and anything with matcha in them.

It was the first time I attended that Japanese instructor’s class and I wasn’t really used to her method of instruction.  And I was feeling exceptionally drowsy – I don’t know if it was because I found the first part of the class boring (I already know how to bake macarons) or because of the afternoon sun (they didn’t put down the blinds despite it being a warm afternoon).  I was so close to dozing off.

But I woke up the moment food was being passed around.  Yup, we all got to taste a slice each of the strawberry shortcake and matcha swiss rolls.  The swiss rolls were heavenly!  If I may, I would describe the swiss rolls as tasting authentically Japanese.  You may not know exactly what I mean if you have not tasted pastries in Japan, but there is a difference between pastries made in Japan and pastries made in Singapore.  And I believe the inherent difference stems from the raw ingredients used.

True enough, Chef Aki Watanabe bought most of her ingredients from a Japanese supermarket, imported from Japan.

Her macarons, which we each got to taste in a take-home box, were less mind-blowing.  I think I will stick to the other recipe I have been using, since I do think the Italian meringue method is more trusty, not to mention safer (since the eggs would be cooked).

The moment I met the hubby for dinner that evening, I told him I need to visit Medi-Ya that weekend.  If he was puzzled, he didn’t ask.  That’s the good thing about having a reticent husband, amidst all the bad things.

93/250

Botched Boxy Pouch

I promised to make the hubby a customised pouch for the specialised headset he uses at work because having worked with him for 6 years, I know that his headsets that were routinely replaced after I left the organisation were probably still in their run-of-the-mill cheap nylonic pouches provided by Plantronics.  Apart from sheer unoriginality, he also risks having his headset taken (by colleagues) by mistake.  One day, he might find himself without a headset when he is about to go on duty after a break (or maybe that has already happened).  Headsets are rather personal items because of the mouthpiece and ear piece, and I’d rather that he doesn’t share.

He seemed rather keen on the idea, and has been bugging me to commence on the project ever since I finished my first successful project.  He was the epitome of enthusiasm and I was not exactly elated to douse this rare show of interest of him, but I had to… since the fabric that I specially chose for his pouch has not arrived from the States.

Finally, the shipment arrived on Monday.  I couldn’t wait to start on the project.  And he couldn’t wait to see the finished product.

Don’t you think the fabric are the cutest you have ever seen?  Perhaps not so suitable for someone his age, but cute nevertheless.  I carefully chose fabric that one could associate with aviation, as far as I could.  These Riley Blake fabric did not fail me.  My estimation did.  The pouch ended up too… spacious.  And I blamed it on him for not giving me exact dimesions to work with; it’s more convenient to push the blame onto another person.

I consider this a failed project and was inconsolable.  To heal my broken heart, the hubby took this pouch along with him on his vacation with the buddies.  I was too upset to notice how he used the pouch.

Going to use the few days alone at home to complete two more headset pouches for him (forgot that he works at two locations alternately), in the dimensions that he now specified.

89/250

Now, What?

A couple of weeks ago my family met up for a dinner.  Because my parents and us lived very close by, we car-pooled and took one car to the restaurant.  During the ride, Dad and I had the weirdest conversation about my Japanese classes.

Me:  I have to go home early tonight.  Have a very important final Japanese test coming Wednesday.

Dad:  You are going to stop learning?  You should continue learning till you finish it.

Me:  Dad, there’s no such thing as finishing learning a language.

Dad:  I know… what I mean to say is, you should continue learning so that you can speak fluently.

The hubby chuckled when he heard this.  I know exactly what was going through his mind – last October in Tokyo, I couldn’t tell the taxi-driver how to get to our hotel.  Back then he was complaining that I was wasting my money taking Japanese lessons.

And then Dad talked about his own experience with the Japanese language.  He started telling us about how he only took lessons for 3 months back in 1972, and he never forgot the Japanese Alphabet.  He also talked about how he listened to Japanese songs and wrote the lyrics on his own so he could follow and sing along.

Ahh… yes.  The Dad is a huge fan of late Teresa Teng, a Taiwanese singer who sang Japanese songs as well.  Now I know why he took up Japanese lessons.  In a warped way, this is the same reason why I am taking Korean language lessons now.  Little wonder it is said that the apple does not fall far from the tree.

Now that I passed my Intermediate 4 test, I’m back at the crossroads – what to do next?  Continue on to Pre-Advance classes where there is no written syllabus?  Take JLPT Prep classes to continue learning grammar?  I have no idea.  Same goes for my 4 other classmates who ‘graduated’ with me.  Because I have no one in my daily life to practise with me, I know I have to continue taking lessons to stay current.  Otherwise I will forget everything I’ve learnt in the past year or so, like how it had happened a decade ago.

I’m not proud of all my test results, in particular Intermediate 3′s (I just passed).  But to my defence (and my 3 other classmates), none of us studied because sensei told us it would not be a test like the previous levels.  And so the 4 of us naively chose not to study for it.  The only person who did well for the test was the one person who was absent when sensei told us there was no necessity to study.

I miss going for weekly Japanese lessons, and I feel that the longer I am away from classes, the faster I’ll forget.  In fact, I have no language classes whatsoever for the next two weeks because my Korean language class has also come to an end, with a 2-week hiatus till the next level commences class.  I’m not an anime fan, but just to ensure that my Japanese proficiency remains current, I’m now forcing myself to watch some anime in the meantime.  I’m hoping the JLPT preparation class commences soon.

88/250

Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun

I haven’t been participating in the Weekly Photo Challenge much because I switched off the email alerts from the blog (since I am not on a daily challenge) and thus have not been remembering to check out the blog regularly.  Just so happened that I thought of the challenge over the weekend and found out the theme for the week is Sun!  Oh I was elated, because I thought I took some very pretty pictures with the sun as the theme during the last Europe trip.  Winter suns are somewhat different, if you get what I mean.

This cheery morning sun shone brightly upon us on a weekend morning on our second day at Rothenburg ob der Tauber.  It was still early in the morning and we were pottering along the relatively empty streets after our interesting climb of the medieval town’s walls.  I was basking in the sun, happy for the pleasant warmth and short respite from the snowy cold.  And then I turned my back and saw this wonderful scene.  Without further hesitation, I took a shot.

I’ve always emphasized that I prefer the cold weather to warm tropical.  The sun has stopped being interesting since technically speaking, I see it for almost 12 hours every single day, year on year, provided that I do not travel.  You could also say that I have kind of stopped appreciating the existence of the sun.  But that winter trip reminded me once again why the sun existed, and why we needed it.  When it’s cold and gloomy, all we really need is a peek from the sun to feel all warm and fuzzy again.

Ah, my love-hate relationship with the sun…

87/250

Domesticated Me

I was never a wild child, to start with.  Yet, living without a certain contraption in the house for the past decade or so has left me feeling rather… undomesticated.  Finally, with blessings from the hubby, I invested part of his bonus he gifted me to buy myself a sewing machine.  Yes, you heard it right.  A Janome sewing machine, to be exact.

The idea had been brewing in my head for a long, long time.  As far as I could remember, I wanted a sewing machine in my house when I got married, but there was no real necessity back then.  Now that we’ve stayed in the same house for over 8 years, things are starting to come apart.  And the curtains seriously need a change.  Plus the fact that we are both horizontally challenged meant that we always have to trim our pants.  Everything just boils down to the fact that a sewing machine around in the house is going to be awfully useful.  It actually took me months to decide on the model of the sewing machine before I eventually settled for Janome.  Sure, this is not so common in my part of the world as compared to Brother or Singer sewing machines, but these lean, mean contraptions manufactured by a Japanese company are made to last.  Furthermore, I’ve read numerous reviews indicating that Brother and Singer sewing machines are not made quite like the way they used to be.

It’s funny how I could bake, cook, sew, crotchet and knit competently… but I am a mess where it comes to common household chores.  I just don’t know where to start.  And I don’t like performing household chores.  I shamelessly blame this odd phenomenon on my dear mummy, who never insisted that I (or for that matter, the little sis) helped out at home when I was still unmarried.  She loves us this much that she takes it all upon herself, thinking that we were too tired from studying during our school days, and too fatigued from work during my early working days.  She made excuses for us all the time, and that resulted in a married daughter who doesn’t know where to start doing housework chores and an about-to-be married daughter facing the same issue.  This about-to-be married daughter is worse off; the last I checked, she only knows how to cook one dish – instant noodles.

Digression is my forte, apparently.

So… my first sewing project was a pouch for my Japanese dictionary gone terribly wrong.  It took me one whole afternoon to conceptualise how I wanted to put together the whole pouch (hint:  involves numerous flipping) to a point that it got so complicated I wanted to draw my diagrams on a graph paper – only that I don’t think there is any lying at home.  Finally I decided to just do it.  I did fine for most parts of it, until the second last step: I nailed in the button too enthusiatically (ahead of time) and was left with a margin not large enough for the finishing row of stitches.  Short of tearing the fabric, I have tried all possible means to remove the button,  but to no avail.  This project was officially declared a failure last weekend.

After a perfunctory sense of regret, I moved on to another project – a pouch for my bible and rosary.  With some guidance from websites here and there, I managed to complete it just a couple of days ago.  It looks like a very simple project (perhaps it is for more seasoned sewers) but I admit I did struggle a little, and learnt some valuable takeaways.  I’m happy with my first attempt, considering that the last time I embarked on a proper sewing project was via a pair of culottes way back in secondary school.  However, I forgot to attach a strap to the pouch, which renders it quite useless then.  I have not thought of my next project seriously, but I might just make another similar pouch for my bible, this time with a strap.  Could always use this present pouch for my kindle.  Fits snugly too.

80/250