Playing with Polymer Clay

Just before the March Holidays, I picked up a lesson on polymer clay with PigBakesClay. I've always been fascinated by replica food.. so this was perfect!  

So cute!

The home studio is situated in Seng Kang. 

We started with Ang Ku Kuehs.. 

Made use of real leaves to texture the clay... 

It was so adorable! 

We then did some Tutu Kuehs.

Filling! 

  

So very adorable.. and the details were insane. 

So delicately intricate.

Pineapple tart..

The pineapple tart was tricky to sculpt.. 

  

But totally worth the effort! 

So many works of art! 

Neatly organised balls of clay..

Iced-gem cookies!

  

They were really tough to shape! 

They were so tiny! 

Balls of clay for the Kueh Lapis Sagu..

I love the colours!

Even minor details were not left out! 

Such a beautiful mess! 

I had mine made into a bracelet.. 

Playing with polymer clay is a lot of fun but it's a tough work.. It's also an expensive hobby.. I got a small kit from Bangkok and I've been playing with them at home.. Hoping that I can play with more polymer clay as I go! 

I'm also playing with Air Dry Clay to create larger food replicas.. I'll share more details in another post! 

Bankgkok 2016 Day 1 - Chinatown,Pratunam Night Market and Night Market @ Palladium

During the March Holidays, mum and I took a break and headed to Bangkok for some retail therapy. I've not been there in like 10 years while she had just been to Bangkok about a month prior to our trip. 

The trip was kinda impromptu and I booked the tickets 2 weeks prior to the trip. As such, the tickets were pretty costly.. hence, I settled for Malaysian Airlines as I dislike budget airlines.. We transited at KLIA and the airline was really mediocre. 

I wish I had spent more money to fly via SQ (: 

The hubby sent us to the airport in the morning..

We transited at KLIA.. And after visiting KLIA and Thailand's airport.. it's no wonder why Changi Airport is world class (: 

We touched down safely and headed to pick up the pocket WiFi gadget I had rented from Pocket WiFi Thai.  I paid $6.95 USD per day for the duration of 5 days. 

Pocket WiFi Thai 4G

Coverage : Nationwide 

Speed : maximum speed of 100 mbps

Connect up to 5 devices at once

Mum and I had good WiFi coverage throughout the trip. 

We then took the Airport Transfer I arranged from Bangkok Airport Transfer to the hotel. We paid 900 baht per car per trip. It works out to about $40 but it was absolutely comfortable and followed our schedule. 

We checked into S Sukumvit Suites, a 4 star hotel situated next to Asoke BTS. Terminal 21 was just across the street. 

Our room for the next few nights! Nicely situated next to the BTS!

Posted by Cynthia Lim on Tuesday, 15 March 2016

The room was nice and clean.. and had sufficient space for us to store our shopping stash XD 

The toilet was basic but good enough. 

The toilet has a cheeky clear window XD But of course, it came with blinds. 

After a quick rest, we then popped over to Terminal 21.

The supermarket was amazing. I was so happy to see all these Japanese Kit Kats! They were pretty costly though.. 

Because I love supermarkets! And I'm excited to find Japanese kit kats here!

Posted by Cynthia Lim on Tuesday, 15 March 2016

There was a TaoKaeNoi speciality shop that has tons of special seaweed flavours that we don't have locally! 

A shop that sells tons of TaoKaeNoi snacks! If you're a huge fan like I am.. You're bound to love this place.. So many flavours!

Posted by Cynthia Lim on Tuesday, 15 March 2016

There was a Daiso too! 

Even the Daiso excites me!!

Posted by Cynthia Lim on Tuesday, 15 March 2016

We then took a taxi to Chinatown. The traffic congestion in Bangkok was horrid. Mum and I first visited the Kway Chap store that our family loves! With a peppery broth and crunchy roasted pork, it was absolutely divine! 

Kway Chap

I've been missing this for years! The best Kway Chap in Chinatown!

Posted by Cynthia Lim on Tuesday, 15 March 2016

That is some majestic Phad Thai frying skills!

Posted by Cynthia Lim on Tuesday, 15 March 2016

So travelling is all about eating  Here's our seafood dinner from the famous green shirt seafood place in...

Posted by Cynthia Lim on Tuesday, 15 March 2016

After a stroll around Chinatown, we had some seafood. It was tasty but after a couple of hours, we regretted our choice of dinner. The meal was laden with SO MUCH msg that mum and I chugged down tons of water in the later part of the night. 

Vermicelli Crab

Grilled prawns

Kang Kong

The food were mostly prepared in the open.. 

We popped by one of the many 7-elevens and had so much fun! 

There were so many types of convenience food! 

Even eggs that were of different doneness! 

 After dinner, we took a taxi to Palladium World shopping mall for the night market. 

There were lots of clothes on sale.. and bags too. The best part would have to be the main area with all the customisable stuff! Keychains, pouches etc.. you name it, they have it. The prices were pretty attractive too! 

After we were done, we crossed the streets diagonally to get to the night market outside Platinum Mall. They were about to close but I managed to DIY a pair of sandals while mum had a pouch made. 

We then headed back to the hotel to rest for the night. I love the sandals and keychain I customised! (: 

So that wraps up our Day 1.. keep a look out for Day 2 where we visited Platinum Fashion Mall and bought lots of clothes! (: 

Thermal Cooker Pulled Pork (Overnight recipe)

I was looking around for more overnight thermal cooker recipes and I decided to try out a pulled pork recipe so that I could make sandwiches with it.. I adopted the recipe from JamieOliver.com but made adjustments to fit my 3 litre thermal cooker. 

The pulled pork is called as such as the pork shoulder is pulled apart and shredded before serving. The recipe yields a sweet but yet savoury meat that's tender and juicy! It went really well with buns/bread and the coleslaw I did. 

I took 30 minutes to cook the dish and threw it into the thermal cooker to continue cooking overnight. I'd rate it a difficulty level 2 out of 5. 

Simple Creamy Southern Mayonnaise Coleslaw

I did up this simple coleslaw to go with the pulled pork sandwiches I had.. This is easy to whip up and tasty to boot! I adapted the recipe from Amazingribs.com.

It'll take about 15 - 30 minutes to prepare this dish, depending on how you slice the veggies. 

I'd rate it a difficulty level 1 out of 5. 

Braised Pork Belly with eggs and tau kwa (Overnight Thermal Cooker Recipe)

I've been cooking a fair bit of late.. just before bed time. I cook and have the food cook overnight in my Thermos Thermal Cooker and re-heat it in the morning to take them to work. This way, the hubby can also have his meal just before his work. 

This recipe was inspired by Chris of Budget Pantry's recipe. I tweaked it to suit us. The beauty of this recipe is the melt-in-the-mouth fatty pork belly. Coupled with rice, it's a delight to have! I'd rate this a difficulty level 2 out of 5. It can be an overnight recipe or one that's ready in 3 hours.