h i g h l i g h t s

Recently received the photos from the prewedding photoshoot for our selection, and realised that I've a long-overdue post.. hee.. Was scouring the internet for good places to highlight my hair for the prewedding shoot, and came across Koinonia Salon. Recently set up by Shua (previously from La Coco apparently) last year. Anyway the fiance was looking at La Coco for his haircut, so we decided to give Koinonia Salon a try.

Pauline, their Creative Director, I must say is a really patient lady who takes pride in her work! =) The first time we were there, the fiance tried their cut plus a perm, Pauline was discussing with me options for highlighting my hair for the photoshoot, even though I did mention earlier that I was not planning to do it that day as it was too early before the shoot.

2nd time we were there for his cut plus perm 1 week before the photoshoot, she let me take my time to choose the colours (and I know how long I take to decide on things sometimes hee, especially since this is my first time highlighting my hair or dying my hair at a salon for that matter!). As highlighting would take a much longer time, I had earlier made a separate appointment for myself the next day. Really appreciated that despite me not actually engaging their services either time, they still treated me as a customer and provided me a drink & snacks while waiting for my fiance (ignore the fact that I ultimately spent more in 1 appointment than his 2 appointments LOL).

So on to the my first ever highlighting experience ever!

I chose a copper gold-red sort of colour for my highlights, as I already had reddish-tone hair from a previous home DIY dye job, so anything too drastic like an ash-tone would mean bleaching my hair, and I prefer not to damage my hair too much.. Left the selection of the base colour to Pauline's professional judgment. ;)

That's the start of wrapping my hair in foil! So she chose a 'Chestnut' base colour for me, and offered to use a Herbal dye for it (less damaging than normal chemical dyes), so glad to further reduce the damage to my hair.. =)

That's after all the wrapping is done and they leave it under a rotating UFO thingy LOL... They used the same thing for my fiance's perm.

After washing off all the dye and a 1-step Mucota treatment, that's a happy me!
In case you were wondering, they curled my hair with brushes and hairdryers, it's not a perm...

Close-up of my copper highlights against a chestnut base! I'm no expert (being my first time highlighting) but I like that it's quite natural looking (i.e. not chunky, Pauline was really very detailed, separating out each strand of hair painstakingly for the highlights) and yet contrasting enough to be able to show the highlights, which is what I wanted for added texture to my hair in the photos.

Kudos to her for her skilled hands and eye for detail! My fiance was also impressed by the way she cut and permed his hair so 'intricately' (hmm can't think of a better word at the moment), detailed & deft yet don't feel rushed.. By the way, neither of us are sponsored or have shares in the salon LOL, just happy with our experiences with them so far.. I would say they are worthy of belonging in the higher-end strata of salons, yet prices don't seem that 'fall-off-the-chair' kind, or maybe it's just that she was really nice to give me quite some discounts as I did several treatments within the same visit.. ;)

Oh which reminds me, they seem to have different promotions every month which they SMS to clients. Think this month's is a discount off colour/highlight treaments.. Hmm why not last month when I did mine? LOL...

w e d d i n g p r e p 1

It's been years since I last posted (literally)...
Have been taking photos of lots of stuff in the run-up to our Big Day, and was thinking of putting them somewhere, but somehow feel Facebook a tad too public, so thought of my much-neglected blog hee...

Cheongsam for Tea Ceremony

That's my Cheongsam that we got for the traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony. It's actually a darker red than appears in the photo. 'Blood red' according to their description lol...

My evening gown's still in the making, will post its interim photos when the Fiancé finally shares the photos taken that day with me. My wedding gown is more of less done, just going to have the first fitting in 2 weeks' time, and maybe add some more lace and some blush to the skirt.. :)

Ingredients for the Flower Crown

Started making my flower crown this weekend.. Bought the stuff mostly from Golden Dragon in Chinatown (craft shop that is waaay more economical than Spotlight!), thanks to my mum who used to frequent that shop, I thought of it when I happened to be in the vicinity after work on Fri.. Plus 1 stalk (the long one on the left) from Daiso.. So total damage was only S$14.60!

In the end, didn't even use the larger blue flowers (at the bottom of the photo, S$5) as afraid that they may look a bit out of place as the rest of the flowers are so much smaller.. So my flower crown actually costs only S$9.60! Makes me happy when I think of those being sold at S$50-$100+ that I found online (Le Fairymeadow, Etsy..), le me being cheapskate haha..

Base vines structure

But it's definitely a lot of work (or maybe I'm not that DIY/craft-inclined).. Started off with twisting the wires into a wavy structure that I thought looks nice as I wanted a more natural 'vine' look (which even my custom-made wedding ring has!) Took quite a bit adjustments to join the ends in a continuous 'wave' and get the 'waves' to be quite evenly spread out..

Interim flower crown

That's the initial version of my flower crown.. But my mum was saying that the flowers I use are small and colours not very bright, so may not be very obvious when I wear for the photoshoot. I like the pastel purples and blues so no way I'm going to add bright yellows are reds (although they came as a pack when I bought the DIY stuff), so I decided to add more flowers!

Final flower crown

Ta-dah! That's my final version (for today at least lol)!
When I tried on, found what my mum said to be kinda true, when it's on hair, the vines become less obvious, so the flowers look very sparse, but now it looks a lot fuller when I wear it! I'm not going to post a photo of me wearing though, due to the mess my hair is in hee...

Flower crown bearer

So that's my official flower crown bearer! Mr Funny Bones bear now has a new duty.. :)

c o m m e n c e m e n t

Yup the classic mortar board throwing.. To mark the end of 18 years of formal education, and especially the last 4 gruelling years of undergraduate life... Kinda bitter-sweet though..

To satisfy the curiosity of what was exchanged on stage that took so long, he asked me whether I would be continuing with Masters studies. To which I replied that I am working and would like to have a taste of industry first before considering my options again. And the poor guy seemed slightly disappointed, or perhaps I misread his expression. Oh well.

My parents who have supported me in all senses -- morally, spiritually, financially... Without whom it would all not have been possible. Looking back, it is quite amazing how they put up with my late nights and crankiness during exam periods etc... =P

My darling whom I'm blessed to have met at my stinct at NUS.. And my photographer for the day too! Noticed how amazing most photos turned out, like the sun-rays in the first photo? ;)

My lecture buddies for the 4 years (not including Mr Teddy Bear though)! Can't count the number of lectures we slept through together and lunches we had in and out of the LTs...

My fellow CSS Mech Engin friends! Still remember the first Xmas Celebrations when we took a photo making 'M E's with our fingers..

Must mention that my mum specially flew back to Singapore just to share in the joy of my commencement! And my sis and family flew back too! Many thanks to my sis and Andy for treating all of us to a celebration dinner at Town Restaurant, Fullerton Hotel!

Always been curious about the cafe seats along Fullerton Hotel which overlook the Singapore River, opposite Victoria Concert Hall. Was reading through reviews online to scout for a good place to eat and chanced upon rather good ones on their seafood buffet, and so learnt that Town Restuarant's the one I've been wanting to check out too! Lots of salmon (as in photo above), cold lobsters, scallops, sashimi, delicious mee siam and minestrone soup, chocolate mousse with a crunch, refreshing pomelo etc fruit punch to wash it down... And a great view of the Singapore River and VCH to boot!

l a k s a p e s t o

Laksa Pesto Pasta
Doesn't that just look like a beauty? Haha... Ok I admit I think I'm going nuts, but I finally tried this fusion dish I've been dying to cook! =P Fell in love with pesto sauces in Germany, and restaurants boasting fusion cooking in Singapore have been using local herbs like the (in)famous laksa leaves you see all ground up on the noodles... Supposed to use egg pasta but happened to have egg noodles at home so they came in handy. ;) Supposed to have prawns too, but I spotted these rib-eye steaks on offer in the supermarket so that was our meat for the meal. Adapted from a recipe I googled online, and it turned out really well!! My dad totally loved it! Haha.. I guess it's still dependent on whether you're a fan of laksa though.

Been meeting up with friends, trying to watching the stuff I've been hoarding (yes, I procrastinate entertainment gosh), catching up with my reading, playing some music at home... Sometimes it feels like I'm rushing to do all I've been wanting to before my last weeks of freedom's up.. Sometimes can't believe that I'm going to work for good next week already. Not a vacation job, not an internship, but a proper full-time job.. Argh can't help but feel a 'lil old...

j o y s o f c o o k i n g

Hainanese Pork Chop
Been trying some new recipes and perfecting some others, now that I have a few weeks left before I start work... Teriyaki sauce is surprisingly easy to make, with most ingredients readily available in most Singaporean kitchens! Also tried making some inside-out californian maki, which can be quite messy hee... The above's largely following my mum's recipe for Hainanese Pork Chop -- it's as yummy as it looks! =D Used the artificial vinegar the previous time, but found it a bit too sharp for my liking so had to add lots of sugar, but used the jap rice vinegar from my sushi making this time and it's so much better!

Gingerbread Cupcake @ Auntie Shahz
Been baking with Auntie Shah too, forgot to take a photo of the yummy oatmeal cheesecake we made before finishing it off argh! Just made some gingerbread cupcakes last week too, it's oh-so-delicious with the aroma of ginger and nutmeg and cinnamon, with a tinge of ginger that's not overpowering at all (yes, coming from someone who usually detests eating ginger). Some like it cold, but think I still prefer it warm, as the insides are nicely warm and moist yet the crust has a slight crunch to it mmm...

s a p p o r o r a m e n b i s h a m o n

Salmon Sashimi Rice @ Sapporo Ramen Bishamon
Tried this little ramen restaurant at Raffles City basement, somehow I guess in some extent due to the layout of that area of restaurants (cramped side-by-side with most of their tables outside along the corridor instead of within the contained restaurant premises itself), it seems to give one a fight-or-flight kind of feeling during the meal. Perhaps it's all planned for, given the lunch crowd that area would draw from offices around, hmm... The salmon sashimi was not bad, no fishy taste or smell to it at all, rice was slightly sweet (to Ivan's delight haha) and strewn with Ebiko bits (to my delight muahaha). The bento-bowl it came in seemed rather small. Comes with a tiny clump of preserved ginger (which we both can't stand oops) and a bowl of miso soup too. And that's about all to that dish though.

Special Miso Ramen @ Sapporo Ramen Bishamon
The portion's not too bad, with quite a bit of ramen (but of course), quite a sizeable slice of pork, and yippee, some bamboo shoots too! The soup's unfortunately nothing much though, would rather opt for the soups at the restaurants in Liang Court anyday... =P

d e l i g h t & d e l i c i o u s

Full Moon Burger @ Delight 'N' Delicious
Tried this western food stall with a rather interesting menu, located in a coffee shop at Jalan Membina (which is really quite near my place muahaha). This burger comes in a Full Moon serving of 2 x 150g patty and a Half Moon version. Patties are quite juicy and drizzled with melted mozarella mmhmm... Only thing is that the bread and veggies come separately (burger's too large to stay together, or simply a matter of presentation?) so could get kinda messy trying to eat it together hee...

Paprika Chicken @ Delight 'N' Delicious
Chicken with spices and mozarella melted over it. Didn't find it that exciting, but that is one yummy albeit rather buttery mashed potato... Could almost square up to Popeye's mashed potato, though it would lose a few points in the sauce department...

Proscuitto di Parma Pasta @ Delight 'N' Delicious
Ingredients of the usual ham and mushrooms, but what I really like about this pasta is the creamy tomato sauce. Found their rendition of the sauce slightly too runny though...

Chargrilled Ribeye Steak @ Delight 'N' Delicious
Woot! Look at all that blood!! That's what I call medium rare. And steak for $13.80! Only slight let-down is that some bits of it were unfortunately a bit tough hmm...

Hot Chocolate Brownie @ Delight 'N' Delicious
Nice warm brownie that wasn't too dry nor too heavy, and comes with quite a sizeable scoop of vanilla ice cream on it too! Quite impressed that they even put in effort to do some art with streaks of jam and chocolate fudge, thumbs up for this $4.50 dessert! Generally not too bad a place for some western food near home, they even have a discount card that give you some free food with a certain number of stamps collected hee, only gripe would be the level of noise in the usual coffee shop setting, but oh well, that's what you get for a relatively economical bill for that quality and quantity of food at the end of the meal!