Make yer own cheap furikake!
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh, Misc
It suddenly dawned on me a couple of days ago that the salmon onigiri I buy all the time with its mysteriously salty “ah I would never be able to do this at home” flakey salmon centre was nothing more than easy-peasy pan-fried flaked salted salmon furikake wrapped in sushi rice and a sheet of seaweed. It was a hoax cleverly orchestrated by my local sushi counter and I can’t believe I fell for it hook, line and sinker- damn those bitchez.
I will spare you guys any further theatrics but first, I must give credit where credit is due. This furikake recipe is based on two recipes I found on Just Bento: Salted Salmon Shiozake and Salmon Furikake. I’ve adjusted the recipe mainly because I don’t consume alcohol so I’ve replaced the sake with rice vinegar and totally left out the mirin. You can totally follow the recipes on Just Bento but I’d thought I’d list out what I used for my muslim readers.
Get a nice salmon fillet, no funny frozen ones please. We want it fu-resh! And no, I know it’s awfully tempting to get that discounted salmon fillet on clearance but don’t! You have to consume any discounted fish on the same day of purchase and unfortunately this recipe requires that you marinate the fish overnight so erm if you still refuse to pay that 4-5 odd dollars for fresh salmon, don’t blame me if you get a 5 ft tapeworm living in your intestines the next couple of months mmkay? ^_^
SEA SALT! Don’t let the whole “organic” thing on the package fool ya, I only bought this pack of organic rock salt/sea salt because it was surprisingly cheaper than normal sea salt lol. I won’t recommend using normal table salt because 1) noone makes salted salmon with table salt, trust me I googled 2) sea salt just sounds waaay cooler.
Wipe the fillet to get rid of excess moisture and here comes the fun part: grab a handful of salt, start pouring it all over the salmon while gently pressing the salt into the firm salmon flesh. Make sure both sides are covered and you are well on your way to cheap salted salmon flakes.
Now’s the hard part: You have to leave it in the fridge overnight. I know, I know - waiting sucks but be patient, it will be worth the wait. Wrap the salmon up in a few layers of kitchen towel, place it in a sieve with a plate underneath to catch any drips and leave it in the fridge.
The next day, unwrap your little salmon pickle and pan-fry/grill it with a little oil and a few tablespoons of rice vinegar til cooked. Use a fork or your bare hands to flake the cooked fillet, removing any bones you may find. Wipe the pan and dump the flakes back in with a splash of soy sauce and rice vinegar.
Stir the flakes around to quicken the drying process; Just Bento suggests “you can leave the flakes fairly moist, or continue stirring until they are quite dry and finely flaked. The more you dry it out, the longer it will keep. Just do not let it burn or color too much.”
So there you have it! Simple and delicious salmon furikake~ Honestly it’s supposed to be a lighter orange color but I kinda OD’ed on the soy sauce LOL You can use this to top your rice or use it as a filling for your onigiri. I didn’t have the time to make pretty lil onigiri so I made some sushi rice, placed it in my bento box and sprinkled some of the salmon furikake + some strips of seaweed! Makes a really good, frugal lunch XD
This entry is dedicated to my homeboi Aaron who sent me some of his rough figure sketches he did for school, you make me so proud bb! Straight A’s at design school this semester, werk it!
LOVE THE SHOES IN THIS ONE!
Mmm what a hottie.
I’ve got more to show actually but I like these two best ;D (and this entry is getting seriously long) so I’m going to stop yakking, apologise in advance if this entry is filled with grammar mistakes (it’s almost midnight, forgive me!) and bid you all good night! If you’ve got any questions regarding the recipe, ask me in the comments ;D
Tags: design: sketches, nosh: japanese food, recipes
There’s no escaping the food - Melbourne Part 2
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh, Misc
As you can tell from the title, this entry is mainly a jumble of food porn photos so I do not recommend reading this on an empty stomach. Run along now and get to the nearest source of food, your fridge, your momma’s stew, whatever you like. It’s nearly Christmas so there’s no need to watch the diet.
I figured I should start off this entry with fruits because it doesn’t clog up your arteries like all the other food stuff I’m about to show you baha. Don’t say I didn’t try to make this entry healthy.
We drove about half an hour away from the city to Baccus Marsh, a small town where you find vast fields of plantations, fruit farms and pretty lavender fields. We got to pick our own cherries and strawberries! You only pay after you finish filling up the plastic container they provide and it goes by weight so it’s very affordable. No funny entrance fees, yay!
Never in my life have I seen a cherry tree before! The cherries are pretty easy to pluck because they grow on low trees so the fruits are at your eye level. Fyi the “cherries” you get on ice cream sundaes are fake, I can’t remember what they’re made of but they should be banned. I hate their plastic sweetness. Give me the real deal anytime bb.
Strawberries! The ones we get in the supermarket here are usually not very sweet and more on the sourish side but oh my god, strawberries in Australia are DIVINEEEEEE. They are absolutely perfect, sweet with a bit of a tang.
LOOK MA! APRICOTS!
Muffins are EVERYWHERE. Apple muffins, chocolate, vanilla coconut (I hate coconut but this was gooood), banana, caramel, white chocolate raspberry (another winner!)…this is why my diet’s non-existent anymore.
HOLY FRICKIN’ OYSTERS! Granted they’re an acquired taste; some people like it grilled with a little sea salt, some people like it just like that, some people like it baked with a little mozzarella. I like mine raw with a lil lemon, nothing can ever beat that.
It’s sad that you can only find dips here in upperclass supermarkets and they’re not made fresh at all. Dips over there are made with care, from secret family recipes passed down from generation to generation so each store has a different set of dips for you to choose from.
Time for a water break! Finally got my hands on a bottle of vitaminwater…it was nothing special to be honest but I have been in love with the bottle and label design since forever, sorry I’m a designer - I can’t help but be drawn to good packaging and pretty things.
Cotton candy ice cream! so yummy and it makes me happy just looking at the swirl of purple and pink.
HOLY FRICKIN’ PIZZA! Soft, fluffy dough with copious amounts of my favourite toppings: salami, fresh mushrooms (holy crap they even used fresh mushrooms! not the canned shit we get here!), olives and a combination of mozzarella + edam cheese. This large pizza was only $8 EIGHT DOLLARS GUYS, where can u buy a decent large-sized pizza in Singapore for $8?!
Fish n chips which was $6. Look at the size of that fish. Would you rather have a mcdonald’s burger meal for $6 or an insanely huge and fresh battered white fish fillet cooked the minute you order? Ok so they’re both not exactly healthy but whatever, I’d take the latter.
One last flower power image to go before I end this entry :3 Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as the last one! The food in Melbourne is amazing although I have yet to try out the Asian cuisine over there ‘cept for a few sushi rolls ;P I think I’m going to have a really hard time maintaining my weight when I eventually move down under, erk.
Anyway, Christmas is just 2 days away now! What are your plans for Christmas? I’ll be traveling out of the country again, this time to the capital of Malaysia which is just a 3-4 hour drive away to visit my aunt and do a little bit of eating + shopping! I don’t celebrate Christmas but I am feeling the holiday cheer ;D I would like to wish everyone a merry christmas, spend time with your family and have a good time opening those presents!
Tags: holiday: australia, life, nosh: western food
Melbourne, where I got hit on by a fishmonger - Part 1
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Misc
How has everyone been? I’m finally back from Melbourne! I enjoyed every minute of it (except my 5 hour transit in Perth, that was a KILLER), I like how everyone’s so relaxed despite the bustling atmosphere and the food, OH MY GOD THE FOOD. Don’t get me started - I think I must have gained 2 kilos because everything tasted awesome. I felt a bit like thirsty traveler stumbling upon an oasis in the desert. I won’t be rambling any further because this entry is about to get extremely image-heavy so I much rather have your loading time be saved for the images I took instead.
We arrived in Melbourne in the early afternoon, checked into our hotel and left immediately to do some grocery shopping at the infamous Queen Victoria Market which is one of my favourite places on earth. I’ve been to Melbourne when I was 8 and I’ve had the best childhood memories of eating yummy jam doughnuts and playing with the pets on sale at the market. Lovely times.
I love mah fish as you can tell. It’s really fresh and I love how most of the white fish are prepared as boneless fillets, that’s just super convenient. The fish is really cheap too and if you get there just before the market closes, most of the fish have bargain prices. Oh and I got hit on by a fishmonger LOL! I was taking photos of some of them at work and one of them came up to me, introduced himself and gave me his email hahaha, cute.
ZOMG DOUGHNUTS FROM MY CHILDHOOD, THEY STILL EXIST!
Yessss strawberry jam-filled sugar-coated goodness to go. I think we must have bought like 8 bags of doughnuts the entire trip. See what I mean? It’s no wonder I gained weight lol, oh but it was worth it.
Flowers at the market, just a kaleidoscope of pretty.
This is for all my girlfriends, I wish I could give each of you one of these roses here - they smelt heavenly. Roses will forever be my fave flower, take note boys 8D
THE BEST KEBAB EVER. If you happen to be in Melbourne, have a kebab at Alasya in Brunswick because it is just gastronomic heaven for me. I am extremely picky with my kebabs, I like them to be as authentic as I can get them to be and Alasya serves some real mean foot-long monster kebab rolls which took me literally hours to finish. They make their own oven-fired bread in-house, the meat is perfectly seasoned and I’m one happy camper.
I like how the roads in Melbourne have a special lane for cyclists! Spotted this dude in Brunswick.
Cafes are a big deal there, I’ve seen one on almost every street. This particular one had a nice rustic feel to it, love love.
This is probably one of the few shots of me lol. We were at the sunday craft market by St Kilda’s beach and it was freezing cold. I was practically living in that shawl the entire time lol. I had very minimal make-up on the entire trip and some of you wanted to see what the Shu Uemura lipstick I got looked like on my lips so there you have it, ladies. It’s the perfect nude, really.
The craft market were filled with artists, jewelry makers selling their wares. Everyone was really friendly and didn’t hesitate to give you a free item or a discount if you like their stuff.
Colourful handmade soaps! Each soap had a different scent and they were made with natural ingredients which are good for the skin. I think I must have bought like 6 soaps? Can’t wait to try them out.
Chadstone Mall, this mall is HUGE. I almost kissed the floor when I saw CHANEL. There were some great designer deals here with Christian Louboutin heels going at $400 from their usual $1800 price tag and nah, I didn’t get any because the heels on sale were, forgive me Mr Louboutin, not so hot.
I wish I had time to check out the little little local designer and vintage stores in the city, oh well I’ll have all the time in the world when I move there next year. So that’s part 1 of my melbourne trip! Part 2 will be up soon. I’m going back to reality aka work tomorrow and I suspect things will get busy for me. I have so many blog posts to catch up to, my google reader unread posts count is at an incredible 1,200 so I’ll try to read and comment on everyone’s entries tonight and tomorrow.
Tags: holiday: australia, life
Shu Uemura, keeper of my heart.
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Make-Up & Beauty, Misc
I swear the SAs at Shu Uemura are probably genetically engineered to make you spend as much money as possible >_> because I think I may have to resort to eating salads and sandwiches until my next pay comes in…which is a long, long time from now sigh.
Anyway as you all know, I finally got myself a bottle of the cleansing oil in A/O which is probably short for Annoyingly/Overpriced. Ok no, it stands for Anti-oxidants and as expensive as it is, I think it’s well worth the money because cleansing your face is a majorly important step in skincare!
I intended to get the smaller 150ml bottle which would probably have a more economical effect on my bank account but the SA pointed out if I got the bigger bottle, I would be entitled to their Christmas gift which came in the form of 2 deluxe cleansing oil samples (that’s already 100ml of cleansing oil for free omg!) a sakura-scented Japanese bath oil, a sample of their UV make-up base AND if I spent an additional $25, I could get the Tsumori Chisato x Shu Uemura Limited Edition Mirror as a gift. THAT WAS THE END OF IT LOL so I’m a little poorer now ;_;
Hello again, my pretty baby. I’ve not opened the bottle yet actually, I’m going to finish using the deluxe samples I got first then we can have our own little private opening ceremony for the big kahuna.
~PLEASURE OF JAPANESE BATH~ HAHAHA WHAT?! And my eternal love for Japan just grew by 15%.
Bought my first Shu lipstick! I wanted to get the Tsumori Chisato x Shu Uemura limited edition lipstick in “Jupiter Brown” but it’s sold out everywhere! I’m a little bummed about that but the SA recommended me a similar shade which I am currently loving!I think the glass capsule concept behind their lipstick packaging is A+, always a sucker for packaging here.
Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited lipstick in BG942. Okay I know the color looks almost wtf-worthy in the tube but trust me, it’s a nice shade. Jupiter Brown has similar orangey brown-beige tones coupled with gold shimmer. BG942 is a matte and I’ve been using it everyday now, such a perfect creamy nude shade.
O HAI TSUMORI CHISATO-SAN. GENKI DESU KA?
The mirror comes in a pretty pale pink velvet drawstring pouch, love how they printed on the ribbons as well - nice touch.
I would consider myself as someone who would pick avant garde over cute any other day but I will make the rare exception for Tsumori Chisato. HOW ADORABLE IS THE GOLD FOIL IMPRINT?! Urgh too cute, too cute! I know the mirror is sold out in Japan and the US but Singaporeans, if you want to get the mirror please rush to the Shu Uemura counter in Tampines, they have about 15 pieces left. Be prepared to spend some good money, girlfriends.
The SA was really nice and gave me a stack of samples to try out, I’ve never seen so many samples in my life lol. She must have been in a good mood since I bought everything she recommended. Good, attentive SAs are the spawn of the money-spending devil!
Anyway, in non-girly purchases - I finally got myself a camera bag yesterday! YAY I’m so happy I can bring my camera out more often now. Prior to this, I didn’t have a proper bag for the camera so I didn’t like bringing it out because the first and the last time I brought it out for my lunch date at the Marmalade Pantry, it scratched the hell out of my bag which is completely ironic because here I am worried about accidentally scratching the camera/lens/whatever and the camera is in mint condition at the end of the day but my bag has been brutalized -_-
I think it looks like something out of Aliens Vs Predator haha!
Yay for neon orange insides! More yays for lil pockets to hold extra SD cards! This will really come in handy when I fly off to Australia for a holiday with my family next month! Can’t wait for it!
Randomly, I’ve been looking at my really stale links list in my sidebar and I think I should update it soon lol, I’ve reading more and more beauty blogs lately and it’s been exciting getting to know each and everyone of you! Thank you for commenting and sharing your thoughts with me, it’s much appreciated ♥
Til next time~
Tags: beauty: shu uemura, shu uemura: tsumori chisato, skincare: cleansing oil
Not another one?
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Announcements, Misc
I have a tumblr now. I’ve always had one actually but it got stuck in the deepest part of my closet together with the rest of my clothes I don’t wear anymore. I know I must be crazy or something, re-opening my tumblr when I already have a couple of blogs under my name but I’m doing this together with my homeboy, Aaron, who created a tumblr account on a whim and forced me to re-open my account to honour our friendship lol.
BEAUTIFUL/ELECTRIC is a collection of instantaneous thoughts on fashion, related imagery, a sprinkling of my personal life (and maybe some bitching HAHA) so check it out, it’s my new baby and I’m curious to see how it grows.
boyisamonster is Aaron’s tumblr! He’s a fierce fashion whore so you can expect the same attitude on boyisamonster HAHAHA I honestly cannot describe it any better but he knows his labels and models way better than I do so I expect it’s going to be just as compelling.
If you have a tumblr or know of interesting tumblrs (doesn’t have to be fashion-related!), share it with me in the comments - I would love to follow more people ;D
Tags: Announcements, web: tumblr
The small little things.
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Fashion, Food & Nosh, Misc
I had quite the busy weekend! My cousin got married on Sunday so the whole extended family was camped out at my house scrambling to put together a dinner meal for the guests; the women were chopping up what seemed to be like an endless bag of onions while the men were just sitting down and sipping their coffee. Urgh, men. The only thing they’re good for is the occasional phonecall and when we need them to pay for our shopping >D I got your back, single ladies.
The best/worst thing about having your entire family over at your house (including the ones from overseas) is that they tend to bring over a LOT of food, not that I don’t appreciate food but one aunt bought 5 large boxes of donuts from KL so you can imagine how much of a feast we had in my kitchen! diet confession: I ate 4 donuts HAHAHA…shit.
Aah don’t you remember the days when we were kids and didn’t give a hoot about our weight? Everytime we had access to sweets or cake, we had no qualms about table manners and greedily stuffed our faces with as much junk food as possible, pausing only to savour the taste momentarily.
Hid got me some really cool chocolates and a bag of mints from South Africa! Cadbury South Africa, I LOVE YOU! You make Cadbury Asia look so boring! The Dairy Milk Question chocolate had a question printed on the wrapper, “Are you keen?” and the chocolate had the answers YES or NO imprinted on it so I can imagine this particular chocolate gets sold out very fast during Valentine’s Day lol. I think it’s really cute and tastes even better, it’s dairy milk chocolate with white chocolate creme in it! Hid told me I should give it to a special someone when he comes along but sorry I wait for no man when it comes to chocolate so I shared it with my brother haha!
I love looking at my mother’s vanity table not because of what she has on it but rather what my dad has. He’s got an extensive collection of watches he keeps in a glass coffret, most of them are wind-up watches instead of battery-powered which just makes his collection even more special to me! The man knows his watches as well as I know Prada lol.
One of my fave watches is the kooky colorful watch you see on the left. It’s called Crazy Hours by Franck Muller, a Swiss watchmaker known as the “Master of Complication” because of his knack for creating complex time pieces. Observe the haphazard numbers on the watch? Normally you would think it’s 5:10 but it’s actually 9:10! The hour hand actually jumps from number to number every hour, AMAZING.
My super early new year’s resolution for 2010: GET ORGANIZED AND PLAN AHEAD. The best friend and I got a moleskine daily planner each during the Kinokuniya 20% sale; we’re keeping it sealed in its original plastic wrap until 2010 hits! I think moleskines are the best notebooks/planners around, they cost a little more than what you would expect to pay for a notebook but they are the BEST. I used to be someone who refused to pay more than 10 bucks for a notebook but I got my first moleskine at a heavily discounted price and there was no looking back - after I finished using it, I bought another at full price. They last forever, inspires you to write more and looking at it makes me happy.
What are some of the little things that make you happy? Tell me in the comments!
Tags: fashion: accessories, food: chocolate, food: snacks, life, shopping
I’m 21
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Misc
I turned 21 two weeks ago on the 27th of June. This is prolly going to be very cliche of me to say this but it was indeed the best birthday I’ve ever had. I was stowed away in a car in the wee hours of that saturday morning and was driven to the cinema where we caught the new transformers movie. I had lunch at Barcelos Grilled Chicken where my closest cousins surprised me with a cake, a giant balloon and a lovely card!
Nadz gave me a bagful of presents which I struggled to carry because it was just so damn heavy! In it was the best DIY card I’ve seen in years, The Body Shop spa goodies, some vouchers from my favourite book store and a pressed powder compact from Majolica Majorca.
I had another mini post-birthday party at my house with 3 good friends; I cooked up 60 takoyaki balls in the sweltering heat and we drank green tea while snacking on chilled macaroons. Twas good, really good.
I’m sure a lot of you have been wondering where on earth have I disappeared to? I’m really tired of saying this but my day job has been stealing me away, not only from blogging but a lot of other things as well. I had to work over the weekend just last week, spending 10 hours at the airport doing up a presentation for the following monday!
I don’t have time for myself anymore and lately I haven’t been able to take good care of myself even; my skin has gotten so bad from work-related stress and you won’t believe how much I’ve been bingeing on food! Sucks, I know but things are kinda slowing down over at the workplace (which is why I’m blogging now) so let’s hope I can get everything in control again.
Tags: birthdays, bodycare: The Body Shop, life
Psst! A sneak peek into Julia Roitfeld’s home!
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Make-Up & Beauty, Misc
I guess one has the perks of an amazing minimalist New York home and an equally lust-worthy shoe closet (do I spy the YSL tribute blue booties at the bottom? *_*) when one is the daughter of Vogue Paris’ editor in chief, Carine Roitfeld whom I’ve written about some time ago pertaining to the CNN special she filmed that lets you take a look inside her world as an editor (good stuff, you can read about it here.)
So I see that the younger Ms Roitfeld has a fondness for Crealine by Bioderma, the liquid facial cleanser/make-up remover found mostly in French pharmacies that all models (Gemma Ward, Lily Donaldson, Coco Rocha and the whole chain gang) seem to swear by. Local girls in Singapore, don’t fret - you can find Crealine in most Guardian pharmacies here but be warned - they’re about $30+ a bottle, not cheap if you’re on a school girl allowance but hey if the models love it, you gotta have it. Has anyone here used Crealine before? Is it really worth all that buzz? Tell me in the comments!
Img credit: the selby.
Tags: fashion inspiration: carine roitfeld, fashion inspiration: julia roitfeld, skincare: crealine, vogue paris, yves saint laurent
Praise thy lord of Apple.
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Misc
So you guys *points at imaginary crowd* have probably realized that I practically only blog once a week now. Guilty as charged, darlings but I do apologize.
I’ve been really unmotivated the past two weeks with so much shit happening in my life in a short span of time. Well no, I’m not going to bore you with the details of my bambi’s-mom-got-shot drama - this is exactly why I have my own personal blog on Livejournal; to filter out all these unnecessary askdjlfldksf.
ANYWAY!
I’ve been distracted lately because I finally dumped my old wonky phone and totally tech-upgraded myself with an iPhone~ It’s extremely addictive, I feel as though I’m always, forever 24/7 connected to the internet…well I actually AM! HAHA. It’s amazing really, being able to twitter anytime I want and uploading images is such a breeze so you guys can have a sneak peek on what’s been going on with my life.
My Asos clothes are hereee so pictures soon!
Tags: gadgets: iphone, life
