Frangrance Workshop

Mag had a brilliant idea to do this workshop and we spent some hours at a frangrance workshop where we made 6 difference fragrances following a selection of recipes. And then, we made one using whatever we felt would be best to suit our personalities. It was fun thanks to Elaine who made the whole process enjoyable and she was quick to advise us on how to do 'damage control' for our concoctions when they didn't turn out as we expected the fragrance too.

It was a lovely setting as the workshop was done at Elaine's shop, Senteurs De Provence (which means Scents of Provence), located at Millenia Walk. It's a wonderful and cosy setting where we started the workshop by sipping tea to calm and relax ourselves. From the picture, you can see the different types of scents that we had available to us to mix and match.

What Mag is doing is adding a wee bit of scent that's usually very strong and we use a toothpick drop to gauge how much to add. Sometimes, these types of scents are meant to balance or bind the different 'notes' and too much of it can be overwhelming. Like all good things, a little is sometimes all you need and it's better to use a little and then add on rather than use too much as it gets harder to fix afters.

Here you see me adding jojoba oil to dilute the different scents that I have mixed. We had a choice of using alcohol or oil base and we did a few of each. Not in the picture but there was a glass of roasted coffee beans readily at hand. Everytime we couldn't smell anything, the roasted coffee beans came to the rescue as the beans helped to clear our noses. Am learning new things each time.

And below is a picture of the different scents that I did. And one of the small bottles had my very own concoction. I used a mix of bergamont, honeysuckle, hyacinth, sweet orange, french vanilla (love this scent, as well as lilies too), musk and vanda miss joaqium. It turned out real nice, well I like it so am thrilled with that scent. Will have to go back and get more done next year :o)

From the workshop, we could see how our preference of fragrances reflected our personalities. Mag and I are different in our personalities and it showed too in what we like or dislike when it came to the different scents.

Here's a picture of us three with Elaine in the centre. And it's really a small world cuz Mag met her by chance and it turned out that Elaine was from the same college as us (just a year difference). It was fun cuz spoke about the good old days in college when we played way too much and talk about our lives now.

Thanks Elaine for the wonderful workshop. We will definitely be back. Also thanks Mag for the early Xmas present and keep looking out for such fun workshops please!! :o)

Puteri Gunung Ledang - the Musical

I wanted to watch this musical cuz of the raving reviews it got after the performance in Malaysia. It's a Malaysian production and had interesting people in the cast. Tiara Jacquelina plays the Gusti Puteri Retno Dumilah (i.e. the Javanese Princess of Majapahit) and gorgeous (and I mean droolingly gorgeous) Stephen Rahman-Hughes plays Hang Tuah. Go ahead and check out the website for more about the musical.

A little snippet about the musical if you are not familiar with the legend:

"Puteri Gunung Ledang brings to life the legend of an ill-fated romance between a beautiful princess and handsome warrior, set in the kingdom of Majapahit in ancient Java and the Sultanate of Malacca. In it, Puteri, the princess, dreams of true love. Her brother, Gusti Adipati, the ruler of Majapahit, however, has different concerns. His kingdom is undergoing attack by Demak, a warring state. He enlists the help of the Sultan of Malacca who dispatches to Majapahit an army led by his loyal subject, the warrior Hang Tuah. Puteri and Hang Tuah fall in love and agree to meet on Gunung Ledang in Hang Tuah's homeland, Malacca, after the battle. When the battle drags on, Puteri decides to wait for her beloved on Gunung Ledang. Little does she know that she has been betrothed by her brother to the Sultan of Malacca. "

How did I find the musical? I enjoyed it tremendously and wouldn't mind watching it again but tickets are all sold out here in Singapore. The actors and actresses were good and the props were simple but were used effectively to create the different scenes throughout the musical. I enjoyed the songs, beautifully sung and the lyrics were lovely. It's definitely something that Malaysia can be proud of. Am keeping my fingers cross that they will run it again in the near future and I will definitely watch it again. And even if you do not understand Malay, it's okay cuz English subtitles available for the audience. A MUST SEE for one and all!

When this was performed in Malaysia, they actually sold the VCD and book. I managed to get the book at MPH but rather disappointed that they did not have the VCD on sale at the Esplanade. If anyone has any idea where I can get the VCD, please do let me know as I would love to have it. I might be in KL in a few weeks for the weekend and if anyone knows where I can get it there, that would be useful too.

Here's a music video of Tiara doing a song from Puteri Gunung Ledang the Movie which was done before the musical.

MBA

It took us a while but all four of us MBA made it to the world of blogging. Who or what is MBA you may ask? Well it goes back a loooong way to my college days where I was lucky enough to meet three other wonderful ladies.

Here's the whole story about MBA. We were quite a terror back then and real foul-mouthed *laughs* but we have toned down some I think. And weird thing is, last week alone, I met two people from college. One was a senior student councillor and another was from my batch and he was part of the "rugby boys". Met him at a seminar and we were trying to figure out how we knew each other and three minutes later, we traced it back to college days!!! Hey, Fi, guess which one of the 'ah beng rugby boys' I met? :o)

If you're curious to find out about MBA, go ahead and read on and enjoy!!

Semakau Island Inter-tidal Coastal Walk

Yes, another first for me. Went for my very first inter-tidal coastal walk at Semakau Island or what a friend refers to as the Rubbish Island because of the landfill that's transferred from our incineration plants to reclaim the sea and built up land that we desperately need there. Pretty awesome process and steps have been taken to ensure that minimal destruction to the habitat and marine life at Semakau.

We went for this walk on 5 November and left from West Coast Ferry Terminal. I didn't have the right gear for this but still went ahead. It was an eye opener for me as I had the opportunity to see creatures that I would normally not get a chance to see.

We started with a short walk through the forest. Had to spray lots of mosquito repellant on ourselves cuz there were lots of mozzies. And also we had to keep to the path cuz apparently there were snakes hiding in the bushes.

Several minutes later, we reach the coast and there were lots of mangrove trees with the prop roots showing as the tide had gone down. You can only go for these tidal walks at certain times when the tide is really low.

As we walked along, we really had to be careful not to step on any of the marine creatures. And that meant looking now and watching where you put your feet down. Alot of the creatures camouflauge with the surrounding like these sea stars. Learnt on that day that the correct name for these little fellas would be sea stars...so sea stars they will be from now. Usually you will find five arms radiating from the central disk. If you look at the picture below, the sea star at the bottom right is trying to bury itself underneath the sand. And to the top, you can see an outline of the sea star. That shows that a sea star has successful buried itself and if you dig that spot, you will find it below.

On the underside of the sea star, you can see the mouth. The sea star will push their stomach out through their mouth and digest the prey.

And saw lots and lots of sea star and managed to spot one with *drum roll* six arms!! There were a few more along the way as we walked out to the sea so that was quite a treat for me.

We also some these male Fiddler Crabs. They are really tiny with one arm enlarged that they wave around to attract the females. You really cannot help waving back at them. But when they see you, they will pop into tiny holes in the sand. What you will need to do is stand still for a while and they will peek out again!

It was kinda horrid but when I saw these sea cucumber, first thing that came to mind was....DINNER....SOUP *laughs* I couldn't help it. Am a typical Singaporean. And so were the rest in the group cuz we started talking about how expensive these fellas were in the market. Our guide could only shake her head and shooed us to walk on (plus I think she wanted to make sure that we didn't sneak this home).

To see the corals, we had to go out further and that meant wading through a patch of seagrass. If we had proper shoes, this is when it would have come in handy. I just had normal sport shoes so my feet and socks got wet. Lesson learnt. Will scout around for proper rubber shoes for next walk.
The day just got more exciting when we saw some really colourful sea slugs. I was hoping to see them on our boat ride to Semakau. They are really cute. The first one is a Polka Dotted Nudibranch.
Have no idea what this slug below is called but it's real pretty. Anyone has any idea?

We walked as far out as we could to see some hard corals but unfortunately, the tide was coming in and the sun was setting so we had to head back. We couldn't hang around anymore cuz it would have been dangerous as the water level could go up real fast...time and tide waits for no man.


The above picture was the last shot I took before we headed back. I wanted to capture the contrast of nature in the foreground and in the back, thanks to man's activities, you can see constant flow of smoke coming out from pipes.

As we walked back, we had the chance to see a sea star flip over. It was quite a slow process but was interesting to see how it contorted itself to get back into position.

#4 - My Lovely Sam Soon

This is another EXCELLENT Korean drama to watch. Main character is Kim Sam Soon who is so funnily adorable. Of the four dramas I've watched, this one made me laugh the most. A 29 year old girl who by her society's standard is considered FAT and an old spinster at 29 cuz she is not married. So her main aim is to get married and does it with such gusto that made it real funny.

And how can one not relate to her. She is 'chubby' and aren't we all chubby to various extent. She eats when she is happy, sad and stressed. Hmm...familiar too ya. But she remains true to herself and as she finds her one true love, you'll just laugh and cry and swear along with her. A MUST WATCH!!!!

And yes, the main male character is gorgeous too so that's another incentive to watch :o) Interesting fact here, actress playing Sam Soon had to put on some weight for this role and I still don't understand how she can be considered fat *shakes head* weird.

#3 - Full House

This is the kind of house I would love to have. Check out the link to look at the photo gallery of how awesome the house is. A beautiful huge house by the beach...heavenly!!! Story wise, it has a likeable story line and the only thing that irritated the hell out of me were the characters who played her supposedly good friends. They sold her house while she was away and left her stranded and then got angry with her when she got mad at them. Like how real is that and that happened a few times in the story! Fast forward button very useful so such instances. But as for the main plot, it is the kind that will leave you smiling by the end of the whole series cuz you're happy that it all turned out happy at the end (surprise, surprise). And yes, girl and boy got together at the end...you can be assured that they usually do for these romantic comedies.

For these three drama series that I have watched, the storyline is pretty standard but hey, if you have a recipe that works, why change that! Keep dishing them my way :o)

Got a few friends who recommended My Lovely Sam Soon so that's next to watch. So looking forward to that. I dread the day when I have nothing else to watch *shivers* Shoo bad thoughts!! Shoo!!