Creative work - Fallen Angel

Poking around Photoshop and added some brushes from deviantart. Added some fantasy touch to this beautiful picture. The broken window and shower of sunlight thru the window enhance the mood for this picture, the fallen angel.

Modestos Frenzy!

Craving for pizza? Modestos is always our first choice! Thin crispy crust with fresh delicious toppings. Baked direct from wooden stove with an unique charred woody flavor to each bite.


We went crazy with the 1-for-1 promotion. First served, Seafood pizza + Salami pizza


Salami pizza gone! Two more regular pizzas. One with pharma ham, one with lotsa cheese. Apologies, I don't remember the name :P

We took away around 2 pizzas as we couldn't finish all of them. Obviously!!

Taking a break from photoshoots...

Life's been fruitful work, dancing classes and photoshoots. However, it's kinda tiring to spent one day out of two weekends for shoots and sometimes after work. I remember the after work rush to MUA to do my makeup and still am late for photoshoot. And the shoot stretches over midnight! Till this day though.... The images are still not being passed over to me yet. It's my first night shoot and it's in the middle of Joo Chiat Road with tons of hard sweat and usual eye glances. And no photos!!!! Grr......

I'm taking a break from shoots..... Running out of ideas, running out of energy.....

Egg Potato Mayo Ciabatta with Rockets

This is a quick fix if you want a balance meal and to kill your sandwich cravings.

Ingredients

6 med. potatoes, boiled, cut into cubes
1/2 c. finely chopped onions
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/2 c. mayo or salad dressing
1/2 c. chopped celery
2 hard cooked eggs
Handful rocket leaves

Directions

1 Stir onion, salad dressing, salt, pepper into potatoes. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours.

2 Just before serving, toss with mayo, celery and eggs.

3 Toast Ciabatta and spoon generous amount of egg potato mix onto Ciabatta. Pair generous amount of rocket leaves to balance up the meal.

Photography by Simon Ong

I've always admire Simon's work. His work is clean and very elegant. Initially we wanted to do a sexy, bubbly theme. But somehow I'm not too bubbly infront of the lens. Strangely, I always have a serious look when the camera is pointing at me. I love the sensuality that Simon captures for me. Thanks Simon!

Photography by Marah

It's my first time working with Marah. He's a extremely sweet guy and even has a mini fan for his model! It was a fairly short shoot and the pictures turn out so so. There will always be next time! Where's my CD Marah!!!!???

Strawberry Panna Cotta

I love this dessert and the great thing about Panna Cotta is that it demands to be made in advance. You can make them up to two days ahead and keep them well-covered and chilled. It's super easy to make!!!

Ingredients

4 cups (1l) heavy cream (or half-and-half)
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, or 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 packets powdered gelatin (about 4 1/2 teaspoons)
6 tablespoons (90ml) cold water
5 strawberries

Directions
1. Heat the heavy cream and sugar in a saucepan or microwave. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

(If using a vanilla bean, scrape the seeds from the bean into the cream and add the bean pod. Cover, and let infuse for 30 minutes. Remove the bean then rewarm the mixture before continuing.)

2. Lightly oil eight custard cups with a neutral-tasting oil.

3. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a medium-sized bowl and let stand 5 to 10 minutes.

4. Pour the very warm Panna Cotta mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.

5. Divide the Panna Cotta mixture into the prepared cups, then chill them until firm, which will take at least two hours but I let them stand at least four hours. (Judy told me American refrigerators are colder than European ones. )

If you're pressed for time, pour the Panna Cotta mixture into wine goblets so you can serve them in the glasses, without unmolding.

6. Run a sharp knife around the edge of each Panna Cotta and unmold each onto a serving plate, and garnish as desired.

7. Place diced strawberries on top of the Panna Cotta.

To make Panna Cotta with sheet gelatin: Soften 25g (approximately six sheets) in a liter of cold water for 5 to 10 minutes. Wring the sheets out and stir them into the warm Panna Cotta mixture in step # 4, until dissolved.

Photography with Samuel

This is one photoshoot I didn't particularly enjoy. It was done in a home studio with poor condition. I've been to several home studio and have absolutely no complains till this shoot. The aircon wasn't working and the backdrop was a pale blue uneven wall..... The theme creative makeup attracted me to agree on the shoot but the makeup didn't turn out creative enough for me. The hairstyle was also terrible and I have to photoshop the picture for more volume.

And worst? Bad photographer attitude...... My first and hopefully last blacklisted photographer. Sorry, I don't quite buy your shit.

Homemade Chocolate Mousse

In this dessert, I've adopted Nigella Lawson instant chocolate mousse recipe and it work wonders!

Normally, you need to make chocolate mousse a good few hours, or better still a day, before you want to eat it, so that the egg yolk sets and the whisked whites permeate everything with air bubbles. Forget that: here there are no yolks, no whites, no whisking, no waiting. Lack of raw egg, incidentally, also means that you might be happier giving this mousse to small children, though I certainly feel they shouldn’t be the only beneficiaries.

Ingredients

150g mini marshmallows
50g soft butter
250g good dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids), chopped into small pieces
60ml hot water from a recently boiled kettle
1 x 284ml tub double cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1 Put the marshmallows, butter, chocolate and water in a heavy-based saucepan.
2 Put the saucepan on the hob, over heat, though keep it fairly gentle, to melt the contents, stirring every now and again. Remove from the heat.
3 Meanwhile, whip the cream with the vanilla extract until thick, and then fold into the cooling chocolate mixture until you have a smooth, cohesive mixture.
4 Pour or scrape into four glasses or ramekins, about 175ml each in capacity, or six smaller (125ml) ones, and chill until you want to eat. The sooner, the better!

Photography with Satch & Johnston

I'm stranded, confused... Photography by Micheal again. This time round, we have Johnston with us and we are off to Old Changi Hospital (OCH) for a shoot!


Johnston's masterwork!

I had a great time in OCH even though it was drizzling and humid. We were quite lucky that the lighting was sufficient despite the rain. There's two ways to enter OCH, one of which is guarded by security. Luckily Micheal knows the correct journey and we had to climb dark eerie stairs to reach shooting location. Indeed it's slightly frightening but it's bright day light!

Information from SPI, Singapore Paranormal Investigators:

Old Changi Hospital

History

Built in 1930's, together with an A/E opposite the road and several blocks of commando barracks cum Changi prison nearby, the Old Changi Hospital (OCH) is situated at Netheravon Road in Changi villages. It has quite a long and rich history for being the former hospital of today's modern Changi General Hospital in Simei and Toa Payoh Hospital equipped with world-class facilities.

With its classical design, one can see that OCH is a typical replica of buildings built by British Colonial architects in the early 20's. Surprisingly OCH was not meant to be a hospital when it was first built (same for the A/E). The British was planning to have a heavily guarded military location in the east of Singapore. The site was strategically selected for it is high on top of a hill overlooking the sea surrounding most of the east side and the south side of the island. For about 10 years before the war, this classical 7-storey high building compound was used as military command quarters and barracks.

During the assault of the Japanese aggression from Malaya in February 1942, Changi was targeted as one of the first attack points. In a day or two, it was occupied by the Japanese army moving from Puala Ubin. Soon after that OCH was converted to a military hospital where all the wounded soldiers and civilians were attended to. After the Japanese Occupation ended, it was converted back to its original self, as a public hospital and later with a Military ward on the third level.

From February 1997 onwards, OCH was closed for its hospital operations were replaced by the new Changi General Hospital. It got isolated and left vacant there since then. According to some insider sources, the abandoned OCH will remain as it is but it will be re-open for the 'public' soon during 2005 for the Army Camp or for the Officer Cadet School (OCS) Trainees.

However, stories about the building being haunted started in the early 40's. The Hospital itself had 70+ years of rich history when it survived from the dreadful World War II that took place from 1942 to 1945, witnessing the fall of Singapore and the brutal tortures towards the prisoners of war (POW) that happened there. Therefore, seeing spirits of all races and of different nationals wandering around in the compound would be a common sight.

If you are thinking of visiting the hospital in the hope of bumping into a spirit of any nature, go with 2 or 3 friends. If you go beyond that, you will never see it as they are all hiding behind the window pane or the back of the door WATCHING at you. But of course, you can go there alone, however you will never find yourself ALONE.