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.

Photography by Satch

Super interesting shoot with Micheal as we managed to successfully sneak in to Tanjong Pagar Railway station. I didn't know we were not allowed to shoot in the station and we simply walked in on a Saturday afternoon. I love the lighting and mood for this picture. Micheal is a very nice guy to work with! He's very open to suggestions and not afraid to try and suggest new postures.

Zaru Soba Noodles

This is a super easy recipe that works well especially when the weather is hot!

Zaru soba is cold soba noodles (buckwheat noodles), served with dipping soup (mentsuyu) and some toppings.

Ingredients

14 oz. dried soba (buckwheat noodles)
2 cups - 2 1/2 cups mentsuyu (dipping sauce)
(You can buy ready made sauce in NTUC or Cold Storage)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil/peanut oil
Handful of seaweed

Directions

Boil water in a large pot. Add dried soba noodles in the boiling water, gently stirring noodles with chopsticks. Turn down the heat to medium. Boil soba noodles, following the package instructions. It usually takes a couple minutes to boil soba. If it's necessary, add a little bit of cold water in the pot to prevent overflowing. Drain soba and cool the noodles in cold water. Gently wash noodles with hands and drain well. Divide soba among four serving plates or zaru (draining bamboo baskets). Divide mentsuyu (noodle dipping soup) among four small cups.

Beat together eggs until blended. In a small nonstick frying pan, heat oil until just hot enough to sizzle a drop of water. Pour in egg mixture and fry till both sides are lightly golden brown.

Cut omelet and seaweed into small strips for soba toppings.

Wisdom Teeth Removal

Let me blog this before the anesthesia wears off.

Just came back from National Dental Center after removing all my wisdom teeth... Yes... All four of them in a go. Now I think I'm looking like a panda. =P

Went for my usual dental checkup last year and took an xray as I was having some swelling at the back of my mouth. The xray revealed a partially erupted tooth on the left lower jaw and an horizontal impacted tooth on the lower right hand jaw. There wasn't any pain but was recommended to take both out to prevent further complications such as decay or pushing the lower jaw teeth together.

Rang up Queenstown Polyclinic (Note: You might have to ring a lot of times as there's only one person attending the phone and the reception.) Initially, they scheduled an appointment that's five month later! But after explaining to them that I'm going for a wisdom tooth checkup, they gave me an earlier schedule that's three weeks later.

Purpose of heading down to a polyclinic? Referral letter of course! Trust me, it's worth the trip... You will know why later....

Went down to National Dental Center for my first appointment. After taking another xray, I scheduled my wisdom tooth removal on 9th January 2009. There are three choices of anesthetic methods, local anesthesia, sedation and general anesthesia.

Initially I opted for GA as removing all four wisdom teeth sounds really scary to me. But after the doctor explain the procedures that GA will need to put a tube thru your nose to help breathing, fasting before operation and injection thru the wrist blahblahblah.... I got even freaked out. He was also explaining the increase risk of GA that low percentage of patient can be sensitive to anesthesia and could have more complications.

Sedation on the other hand is also using anesthesia injected thru the wrist and has the same risks as GA.

After weighing the risks and knowing that the technology nowadays is quite advance. I chosen local anesthesia.

The doctor who consulted me on my first consultation was allocated to be my surgeon. But after some consideration, I decided to be more "kaisu". I called up NDC to find out on the days where the senior surgeons are on duty. Monday morning, they said. Hence, I rescheduled my appointment to 19th January 2009, Monday morning. As a subsidized patient, I was not allowed to chose my surgeon.

Two senior surgeons were on duty, I was aiming for Mr Raymond Peck. But I was allocated Mr Asher Lim. Not too bad, both were consultant level.

Firstly, they will bring you to a dressing room where you put your bags in a locker. they will pass you the patient robe, hair cap, footwear cover.

Then they will show you to the operating room. The doctor will apply numbing cream before injection and inject anesthesia on multiple areas of your gums. Boy... The injection is pretty painful even though my pain threshold is pretty ok.

I had four areas that requires multiple injections, hence, I cant feel my lower jaw and my tongue feels numb even almost two hours after surgery.

After injection, the nurse will clean your face and mouth and put surgical robe and cover your eyes. The nurse also assure and explain to me that the doctor will be placing surgical tools on my chest and I will hear drilling sounds and pressure on my teeth.

The doctor starts with the wisdom tooth that requires the most effort to be extracted. My eyes were covered throughout the surgery but I could still feel the drilling and sawing of the teeth and pressure of twisting and extraction of the tooth.

The lower right hand tooth took the longest to be extracted as it requires cutting the tooth into two. The other teeth were pretty cooperative and came out pretty well. I didn't feel much when the doctor was taking out my left lower wisdom tooth and stitched it up already! Total time taken was around 45 mins.

After surgery, they guided me to the recovery area where the nurse will explain to you post surgical care procedures and how to take care of the gum area for the next few days.

I was pretty impressed with NDC, everything was quick and smooth. Sufficient information is all printed and given to me.

Typing out the patient information for impacted wisdom teeth surgery as follows:

Wisdom teeth (third molars) are the last of the molars to erupt between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four years. They may erupt normally into correct alignment and function or conversely are impacted.

Impacted wisdom teeth occur when they are prevented from complete eruption due to lack of space, obstruction or development in an abnormal position. They are often indicated for removal because of pericoronitis ie an infection of the gum overlying the partially erupted tooth, tooth decay and an increased risk of tooth decay and gym disease (leading to bone loss) in adjacent teeth. Less commonly, it is removed to prevent possible cyst formation and orthodontic problem in later life.

Impacted wisdom teeth surgery involves making an incision through the gum, removal of bone and/or sectioning of the tooth into smaller fragments to facilitate its removal. After the operation, it is common to experience pain, facial swelling, limitation in mouth opening, bruising and mild bleeding from the operation wound for three to five days.

The following is a list of known risks and complication, which can occur whenever surgery in any form is undertaken:

1. Prolonged pain.
   
2. Prolonged bleeding.
   
3. Prolonged swelling due to oedema or blood clot.
   
4. Prolonged period of disability (eg limitation in mouth opening).
   
5. Acute / chronic / local / general infection.
   
6. Medical problems arising during the post-operative recovery period.
   
7. Unrecognised co-existing condition which requires additional unplanned surgery.

If a general anaesthetic is required to carry out the surgery, it is a separate medical procedure administered by a medical specialist known as a anaesthetist. This procedure has it own inherent risks which includes rare and unpredictable death.

The following is a list of known risk and complications associated specifically which impacted wisdom teeth surgery:

1. Injury to adjacent teeth / hard / soft tissues.
   
2. Numbness of the lower lip, chin and/or tongue (neurological dysfunction).
   
3. Dry socket (alveolar islets).
   
4. Bone infection (osteomyelitis).
   
5. Radiation-induced bone infection (osteoradionecrosis) if you have received previous radiation treatment to the head and neck region.
   
6. Jaw fracture.
   
7. Presence of foreign body in surgical site eg broken instrument.
   
8. Presence of portion of tooth intentionally left in socket.
   
9. Presence of portion of tooth unintentionally left in socket.
   
10. Displacement of tooth, tooth fragments or foreign bodies into adjacent anatomical sites (eg airway, gastrointestinal tract (gut), maxillary sinus, inferior alveolar canal, infratemporal fossa and adjacent soft tissue).
    
11. Unnatural communication with the nasal or sinus cavity (oro-antral / oro-nasal fistula formation),
    
12. Pain or discomfort (symptoms) arising from temporomandibular joint disease / disorder.
    
13. Pain or discomfort (symptoms) arising from muscular disorders.
    
14. Persistent or new disease (eg recurrent or residual cyst).

This brochure serves as a guide for you to discuss with your surgeon about your impending wisdom teeth surgery. He / she will be able to give you a better individual assessment of the possible risks and complications depending on the presence and severity of risk factors involved in your case.

Now the Post-operative instructions:

1. After the surgery, it is inevitable that there will be some facial swelling and bruising on the face and sometimes down the neck.
   
2. You should rest at home. Please avoid vigorous exercises, alcohol and very hot food or drink for the rest of the day to minimise the risk of excessive postoperative bleeding. Do not rinse your mouth unnecessarily on the day of the surgery as this may stimulate bleeding.
   
3. A small amount of blood may ooze from he wound over the first few days following surgery. If active bleeding occurs, apply a clean folded gauze or handkerchief to the wound and bite on it firmly for a time 15 minutes. (I was recommended to bite it for 30 minutes and change gauze multiple times for the first day) If this persists after a few attempts, please return to this clinic during office hours or attend at the Department of Emergency Medicine (A&E), at Block 1 of the Singapore General Hospital after office hours. Please bring along your Identity Card/Passport and Outpatient Card if you are attending at the Department of Emergency Medicine. Please note that a service facility charge of about $90.00 is payable at the Department of Emergency Medicine.
   
4. Please take your medicine at the prescribed frequency and dosage. Allergic reaction to medications used may occasionally occur. Should a rash or any other complication develop after taking the medicine, please return to this clinic during office hours or attend to the Department of Emergency Medicine after office hours. Alternatively, you may visit your nearest medical general practitioner for the problem.
   
5. The surgery site should be cleansed by rinsing the mouth with saline (salt solution) or a prescribed mouthwash after meals and before going to bed. Brushing of teeth should resume the following day after surgery. (Do not brush teeth before bed on the day of surgery.)
   
6. You should not apply a hot towel or hot compress to the facial skin area of the operative site because this tends to increase the size of the facial swelling.
   
7. Soft food may be taken over the next few days. Chewing on the operative site(s) should be avoided during this time.
   
8. If you have been given another appointment, please do not fail to attend.
   
9. Should you have any question about the progress of your recovery, do feel free to contact us at the dental centre at telephone number : 6324-8836

As advice by nurse, the anaesthetic effect will wear off pretty soon, so take light food after surgery and quickly take the painkiller pills immediately! Do not rinse your mouth unnecessarily as you will need the blood clot to stop the bleeding and for the wound to heal.

It's around two hours after surgery now. Slight pain and panda swollen cheeks. Regaining sensation around the tongue and neck. And hopefully I will not have much pain!!!

Ok.... Now down to $$$ part.

Description	Quantity	Full Rate	Amount Payable
Dental Treatment Extraction, Simple, Permanent	2	$120.00	$64.00
Drugs / Prescription / Injections Presciptions - DS	1	$8.90	$8.90
Consummables - OT Sterile Supplies, Surgical	1	$40.00	$20.00
Sterile Consummables, OT	1	$60.00	$30.00
Teeth (2 To 3), Impacted, Removal of Bone with Division of Teeth
Table T3C - Facility		$1,133.00	$580.00
Table T3C - Surgeon		$500.00	$0.00
Total Charges		$1,861.90
Less: Government Grant		-$1,159.00
Net Amount Payable			$703.52
Medisave			$703.52
Payment			$0.00

As you can notice, with a referral from polyclinic, you save more than 50% of the total bill and fully imburse by medisave.

Next appointment will be on 29th January 2009. Oh yes, even follow up check ups and preconsultantion are at least 50% subsidized.

Medical leaves? 5 Days.

Wisdom teeth! BYE BYE!!!!!

Updates: Today the wound is not as painful anymore. And I'm so impressed with NDC customer service! They called me to check on the status of my wound and to check if the bleeding has stopped. They even checked if I am experiencing any numbness on my tongue and jaw. Then they reminded me to brush my teeth gently and wished me a speedy recovery. Lastly they also reminded me on my next appointment. Super impressive!