the BOX of nice things

Sunday, February 20, 2011, 12:57 AM

are you all geared for PRACTICUM!?!

Official start of practicum in less than 1 day!

Went on a learning journey to Bollywood Organic Farm on Friday and then had to rush off to Bedok.
Met up with the SCM of BGSS, Mr Tan, as well as the VP of the school, Mr Lim.
After self intro, settling the admin matters (getting the timetable, access card, and briefing on the guideline to follow etc), we went on a tour to familarise with the school environment. Went to the staff room and met my CT, Ms Koh, as well. Gotten my assignments to be completed and the textbooks.

I will have three sec 2 classes, express and n(t), and a sec 3 n(a) class. I will have to conduct a rough puff pastry (chicken pie) practical session with the sec 3 class on Wk 2 of the practicum! And.. Rough puff pastry is not something is usually bake during my free time! Had to make preparations for lesson plan and practice making CHICKEN PIES!

Shall end of with some photos of Bollywood Farm!

(i'm so sleepy that i decided to call it a day! I shall upload later in the morning!)

=)

Labels: something interesting to share

Thursday, February 3, 2011, 11:21 AM

photoshop COOK!

I'll like to share this creative video that I've chanced upon!

Perfect your photos with Adobe photoshop? That's OUTDATED!
The IN thing now.. Perfect you cookies baking skills with Adobe photoshop cook!

HAHA, ENJOY!

credits to: http://www.dtail.com/2010/03/adobe-photoshop-cook/

Visit the dtail™, an independent creative design blog, tailored to finding the very best inspirations in contemporary designs.. You can find a lot of interesting designs there! =)

AND..

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR to my readers!

GONG XI FA CAI! =D

image from: http://soloverly.blogspot.com/2011/01/happy-chinese-new-year.html

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Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 11:45 PM

Creative advertising!

One of the most important factors of marketing: ADVERTISING!

Be it print, digital or through the media, consumers are constantly bombarded with numerous of advertisements everyday. In order for an advertisment to stand out, it has to be either very creative, very unique, or it can be very lame or annoying.

Since advertisements can sway consumers' perception of products/ services/ mindsets etc,
the key of advertising is probably:
The more impression your advertisement can leave on the audience, the higher the possibility to improve your sales/ bring across your me!

Here's some examples of "cool" adverts~
ENJOY =)

(video from: http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Be-Creative-in-Advertising-6304224)

Labels: DCX 133 Teaching of Consumer Education, something interesting to share

Monday, November 29, 2010, 10:02 AM

video on basic concept of scrapbooking

some basic "concepts" to consider..
Form visual triangles, they eyes then to follow them..
Use odd number, which i guess helps in forming visual triangles?
there's more tutorials online, including how to add embellishments, glitters and other techniques!

Happy scrapbooking!

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Friday, November 26, 2010, 3:36 PM

technology makes people lazy!

Seen people riding the machines below around Changi Airport?

There's another similar product upcoming..
The prototype of a personal mobility machine is better and more compact..
Best part: hand-free control!

Don't it makes life easy but at the same time makes us lazy?!

These products are not something new, but if they become cheap and affordable to all, I think the future generations will become like those featured in Wall-E!

LAZY!

OBESE! due to lack of exercise!


Short and fat hands and legs (which loses their functionality. They can barely walk anymore!)

With cars, lifts and others, we are already so lazy to exercise (avoid climbing the stairs, stop at the nearest places so that we will walk minimally). Wouldn't it be worst if we don't even need to walk around to get from place to place anymore?!

Scenario: travel on a personal mobility machine to the bus stop.. board the bus (handicap friendly buses so we don't have to get down from the machine).. reach the nearest bus stop from destination.. travel to reach destination.. continue to travel around with the machines..

How much calories are we burning then? Reduced calories burnt but food intake remain = weight gain!!
And as time goes by, we'll all be obese.. Very obese!

images from: http://www.wpi.edu/News/Transformations/2002Winter/ibot.html, http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/entertainment/the_assistant/?p=36, http://ohio-thoughts.blogspot.com/, http://br1anv.tumblr.com/post/312468970/wall-e-i-loved-everything-about-this-movie.

credits to CZ for sharing the youtube link =)

Labels: something interesting to share

Wednesday, November 24, 2010, 10:56 PM

scrap-booking!

We did scrap-booking this afternoon!
This will be a good post exam activity as it allows students to come up with something personalized and unique to them.
The steps are simple too,

Then, decorate with embellishments.

A note here will be that MORE ≠ BETTER..

The embellishments should not be all over the place and only one area should be heavily embellished.

The end-product, simple yet sweet! =)

Labels: DCX 130 Teaching Food and Nutrition, something interesting to share

Friday, November 5, 2010, 8:07 PM

Nice and Pro food presentation!

Still remember the lesson I had on plating and taking photographs of food?
I was browsing for images for my microteaching and chance upon this site
http://www.flickriver.com/groups/fotografia-gastronomica/pool/interesting/

It collates photos on food plating and presentation such as:

Most of the photos are presented so professionally and we can pick up some plating and garnishing ideas from them! =)
The best part is that there's a huge collection of photos! After scrolling and browsing for like 5 minutes, there's still 6000 more to go!

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Tuesday, October 26, 2010, 11:22 PM

baked chips!

Was shopping for the resources needed for my Home Ec microteaching last sunday.
At the chips section, I decided to check the difference in calories between baked tidbits and the regular ones that are fried that burns spontaneously!

Regular Doritos and Baked Doritos!

Compared the calories and...

These extra calories comes from FATS!

Labels: something interesting to share

Thursday, October 21, 2010, 1:02 PM

New York New York!

Priscilla and I went to Jurong Point on tuesday for lunch and decided to try the lunch promo at New York New York.

The drinks look NICE!

The layout of the NYNY

The way the MASHED POTATO was served

Mexican Cheesy Chicken, served with nacho and salad!

Grilled Dory Fish with Herbs, served with fries and salad!

Overview of the food presentation!

The portion size is huge! I think I can easily meet my Meat and Alternative serving size intake from the meal.

The fish is very tender and its coated with herbs and garlic bread crumbs which adds crispy texture. However, I liked the cheesy chicken better though! The combination of melted cheese, cheese sauce and salsa sauce just went so well with the crispy and succulent chicken!

Apart from the main dish, the lunch promo comes with drinks (we had iced tea) and a scoop of ice cream (choice of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry). The set lunch is $9.80++ and the mashed potato is an add on at only $2.

*NYNY is not Halal~

** I'm not sure if other branches served the same set lunch menu

Labels: DCX 132 Home Economics Curriculum and Evaluation, something interesting to share

Sunday, October 17, 2010, 3:12 PM

unique looking fruits!

meet these white and unique looking pineberries

image from: http://robotindisguise.tumblr.com/post/484892923/pineberries-and-cream-the-new-summer-fruit-which

I happened to chance upon this while surfing the net..

So I googled and this is the description for the berries:

"The fruit flesh can range from soft white to orange and is very fragrant with a slight pineapple flavor" that's why it's called pineberries..

and....

it a hybrid between strawberry species, which gives it the unique appearance. It is smaller than the usual strawberries we see in the supermarket and the yield is very low. So that's why we don't see it around our supermarkets. =(

I think people just like new stuffs, and this reminded me of the news years back: unique shaped fruits such as apples, pear, and watermelons. The shapes are modified by placing the growing fruits in a mould of the desired shape (ie cube, pyramid). As the fruit grow, it cannot form its original shape due to the mould that restricts its growth, and thus it will take up the shape of the mould. So you get uniquely shaped fruits!

image from: http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-square-fruits-image8721275

Labels: something interesting to share

Tuesday, October 5, 2010, 1:08 PM

the bag of CHIPS!

i guess some of you'll have seen similar video like this before, or may have even tried burning some chips.. Do you see how much oil a piece of potato chip contain?!

I'm a fan of Ruffles! And I tried to burn the chips before and it combust like the chip in the video. You might be wandering where the oil come from and how come chips are so OILY?!

Potatochips is one of the food items that have a lot of hidden fat. You don't see it there as it's hidden (all absorbed) in the chips. So as you munch on them (we don't stop at one, do we?), we eat all the fats! And this is why you gain weight! =(

So, alternative will be baked chips and crackers. As baking process do not require oil as a medium for heat transfer, the crispy texture but there is minimal added fat to the chips. However, even though manufacture tried to make it as tasty as the fried counterparts, baked chips are more dry as compared.

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Saturday, October 2, 2010, 4:37 PM

my cravings for FRIES!

Do you love french fries?
I love fries!!
it's one fried food that I can't resist and constantly crave for!
But.. view the 2 videos below..

Both videos above show that Mcdonald's fries aren't rotting or grow mouldy!
These are what we're eating when we order our set meals in mac..
Will you give a second thought before visiting McDonald's now?

Labels: something interesting to share

Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 12:15 AM

what you see might not be what you think they are.


Chewy sea cucumber in Buddha jump over the wall

Herbal duck soup

Crispy chicken cutlet!


Succulent braised pork belly!

Why am I sharing photos of these yummy food?

The inspiration comes from a small incident......

Last thursday, I packed food from the NIE canteen.
This was what I ordered - 1 serving of cabbage, braised tofu, and lemon chicken.
So, I started eating while I'm in a conversation with my friend.
The cabbage tasted like normal cabbage, and so is the tofu.
Just as I paid a closer attention to my food.....
I saw a half eaten chunk of pork belly!
At that split second, I'm stunned!
The exterior looks just the real thing!
The "skin" is actually a thick layer of beancurd skin, and the manufacturer even considered the texture of the fatty layers! There's this irregular bumps on the surface and I swear if I didn't cut the chunk open and see the white and soft tofu, I wouldn't have know that is a piece of mock meat!

And.. All the while up till this point, I did not realise that I actually bought my lunch from the vegetarian stall!

Look at all the mock dishes prepared now-a-days (photos above).
They have such fine details that you can hardly guess they aren't the real ones!

Boring and plain looking vegetarian meal?
Think again!
Tofu doesn't even look like tofu and you'll never realise what it is until you take a bite!

Images from: http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/xiamen-info-476.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wheat_gluten_%28vegetarian_mock_duck%29_2007.jpg, http://www.foodblog.sg/vegetarian/go-east-for-good-fusion-greens/, http://www.flickr.com/photos/avegancalledbacon/2646159686/sizes/m/in/photostream/.

PS. Si Ni's comment reminded me that I did not reveal the real identity of the 4 dishes above!

I only know that the mock duck is made of gluten as it is mention in the website I found the photo.

As for the rest, I'd done some research..

Usually, mock meat/seafood can be made from beancurd, beancurd skin, gluten, koniyaku powder and texturized vegetable protein. (Chen, 2009, p. 115)

So for the mock sea cumcumber, I guessed it's made of koniyaku powder (a blend of carrageenans, which are extracts from sea weeds) since carrageenans can give the chewy mouthful that imitates the real counterpart.

As for the chicken cutlet, I think it can be made of gluten (gluten can be made into a hundred and one mock items!) or textured vegetable protein (to give those who wanted a break from gluten-based mock meat another option.)

Then for the mock pork belly, I'd tried similar ones made of beancurd (tofu!) but it can also be made with gluten or textured vegetable protein.

Reference:

Chen, T.M. (2009). A tradition of soup: flavors from China's Pearl River Delta. California, U.S.A: North Atlantic Books.

Labels: something interesting to share