Brooklyn Flea

If you like flea markets, you might enjoy Brooklyn Flea, one of the largest outdoor market in New York City. I was there for the 1st one, on Sunday, April 6 2008. Brooklyn Flea takes place every Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm, rain or shine, at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, on Lafayette Ave. between Clermont and Vanderbilt Ave.

On April 6, I took the A train from 72nd St to Brooklyn. As some of the trains were off service on that day (Sunday), I had a slight panic attack as the subway route that I planned no longer worked. In the end, all worked out fine and I found the flea market without any trouble. It was such a cold day that day! I remembered it was very windy and my hands were cold all the time.

This flea market is a lot more upscale than I thought. They have some very interesting things but most of them are expensive.

My main aim was to see Lotta Anderson, one of my favorite designers! She was there! I bought her book, Simple Sewing and had it autographed!

Hand Carved Rubber Stamps

One of my favorite things to do is rubber stamping. I started to carve my own rubber stamps when I found this book at Kinokuniya: 晴れときどきはんこ―雑貨的消しゴムはんこを楽しむ本. It is written by Koma Keiko and now I have all her books. She is such a talented illustrator and artist. She makes the cutest rubber stamps!

Her books will teach you how to carve your own rubber stamps step-by-step. Start with easy drawings and you will find that carving your own stamps can be fun and to me, sometimes theraputic.

Here are the tools I used.

You can use any type of eraser but I feel that the Pental eraser is softer and easier to carve. I buy the biggest piece I can find. In fact, the one shown in the picture is the largest one I can find in Singapore. If you know of any bigger pieces, please tell me! The larger one in the picture was purchased from Tokyo last year. I bought 6 of these and now I have 3 left.

You will need pencil, tracing paper, tissue paper, cutter, ink, paper and a cutting mat.

Last night, I made 2 new stamps, a pig and a cat.

The Noisy Plume

Here's another Etsy shop that I adore! The Noisy Plume! I love her designs and the way she writes her descriptions about her work! It's almost like reading poetry! Never fails to bring a smile to my face!

Here's a lovely new work from her on the left! What a beautiful necklace! I think I saw matching earrings in her Etsy shop too!

Take a look! ^_^

Moop

Moop makes the most wonderful totes and bags! These two are my current favorites, the Porter and the Fraulein Tote. Check them out, they make really cool stuff! Moop.

The Fraulein Tote and The Porter

Half Day Off

Took half the day off yesterday! Went to Orchard Road with KC and we had lunch at the Takashimaya basement foodcourt. I wanted to try the Kimchi soup at Manna. KC ordered the Beef soup. The Kimchi soup included tofu, tang hoon, kimchi (of course) and pork (I think). Comes with a bowl of rice also.

The Kimchi soup was delicious! Maybe I am easily satisfied! KC's Beef soup was delicious too but not spicy.

After lunch, we went to Isetan Scotts to check out the supermarket. KC wanted to buy some ingredients to make Chawanmushi. We spent quite some time wandering around. I saw Ume preztels at the snacks section! I have not had these for years! When we went to Tokyo last year, we couldn't find them! I bought 15 packets yesterday! Happiness is Ume pretzels! ^^

After that, we walked back to Takashimaya where KC bought a packet of durian for her boyfriend. At the foodcourt once again, we decided to try the Korean spicy rice cakes from Dongdaemun, the snack stand. One tiny portion cost $3! It was quite expensive! Anyway, we feel that the sauce is spicy, just the way I think it should be! Love spicy stuff! At $3 a pop, I might have to reconsider before trying it again. >_<~

We also stopped by Kinokuniya for a while to look at cookbooks. Guess we were still hungry, haha!

We made a final stop at Plaza Singapura's Carrefour.

All in all, we had a great afternoon!

Linen Fabric

The new linen fabric I bought from Etsy just arrived! Lovely! I sucked at sewing but my sister could use this new fabric! She made a large demin tote last weekend and we're all out of demin fabric. Which reminds me. I have to make a trip to the fabric shop soon.

This is where I got the linen fabric from: Namolio. Vaide always has lots of fun stuff in her shop! Enjoy! ^^

Chuncheon, South Korea

We went on a day trip to Chuncheon when we vacationed in Seoul last year. The main aim was to visit Nami Island. We joined a Japanese tour. It was funny. We do not understand a word of Japanese, nor Korean, and we joined a Japanese tour when we were in Korea. The reason was very simple. The cost of a Japanese tour was much cheaper than an English tour. I really do not know why...maybe someone will tell me? We used this tour company: Young Il Tours.

Dakgalbi is prepared by marinating chopped chicken in spicy red pepper paste with peppery seasoning for about one day. Cabbage, green onions, sweet potatoes, and cylinder shaped rice cakes are then added and the ingredients are all placed in a large cast iron pan. The mixture is then typically stir-fried at the table.

Kimchi Fried Rice

Here is a picture of the first ever Kimchi fried rice we have eaten! This is the Kimchi fried rice of my dreams! We had this in Dongdaemun, Seoul, last year. The portion was for 2 and it came with so many different banchan!

SO Good! ~

Seoul 2007

My sister and I made a trip to Seoul last November. This is what we had after our visit to Changdeokgung (창덕궁)(昌德宮). Kimchi udon! Hot noodles are best when consumed in cold weather! The udon was delicious, by the way. We found this nice little restaurant close to the museum and had lunch there after our palace tour. After lunch, we explored Anguk Insadong (인사동)(仁寺洞).

More about Changdeokgung:
Open: 9 am to 4 pm. Admit every 15 or 45 mins on the hour.
Admit: 3000 W. Group only. English Tours: 11.30 am, 1.30 pm, and 3.30 pm.
Chinese Tours: 11:00 and 3:00 pm. Closed on Monday, no guides on Thursday.

You can only tour this fabulous palace with a guide.

We joined the Chinese tour but the guide's Chinese made us have a headache as we are not very sure what he was saying. Since we have been to this palace before, we decided to skip his speech and take photos instead, haha!

枯黄的回忆

在榴连茶馆看见这段小故事:


我想起曾经有一个男孩跟一个女孩说，
秋天树上的叶子是听声音落下的，
说完便拍起手，
果然叶子一片片落了下来。
男孩要女孩跟着他做，
女孩害羞而骄傲地不肯举起手。　

经过多少个秋天，
男孩早已不知去向了，
女孩经过那条路，抬起头，
又看到那些树上的叶子，
想起那一幕，
她突然拍起手来, 一声, 两声, 啪啪啪...数不尽的拍手声. 　　
突然,她的眼泪止不住地流下来. 　　
只因为满天散下了绵绵层层枯黄的回忆.

Crystal Jade Ginseng Chicken & BBQ

After Chowon Garden Korean Restaurant, I decided I had to have more Kimchi soup! I really enjoyed it! My colleague love Crystal Jade Ginseng Chicken and BBQ and suggest we try the place! So, on 21st May 2008, both of us, with our ex-colleague YS, made our way to Ngee Ann City!

2 of us have kind of decided what we wanted to order even before we got there! YS decided only when she looked at the menu. This was what we ordered:

Ginseng Chicken Soup, Kimchi Soup, Beef Bibimbap, Korean Spicy Rice Cakes and Kimchi pancake. Also ordered drinks to go with our meal. The banchan served was the usual. They will refill your banchan only once though. it's not free flow.

I actually wanted to try their Kimchi Fried Rice. Loved this dish when I went to Seoul last year and have been trying to find the closest thing here. I'll save this dish for next time! ^^

Here's the address:

Ngee Ann City #04-20

Tel: 6733-3229

Chowon Garden Korean Restaurant

On 17 May 2008, Saturday, we went to Chowon Garden Korean Restaurant for lunch. Found out about this place when I was doing a Google search for Korean restaurants. As we have not been there before, we are full of anticipation! ^^

Reach the place around 12.15 pm...I know, I know, a bit early for lunch but hey, we skipped breakfast! The restaurant is located just next to the Red Dot Museum. We went in and found the place to be pretty empty but I guess we're a little early for the weekend lunch crowd!

Here's the place! It's the type of Korean restaurant that I always wanted to try! You get to sit on the floor to eat! Haha! When I went to Seoul, I didn't have the chance to eat at such a place! There is a big TV also and when we were there, KBS 2 was on. Now, we have Starhub's KBS World but we wondered how did they get KBS 2?

We asked the Korean boss and she told us they got it from a Korean company. Wow. of course, KBS 2 is all broadcasted in Korean, no subtitles whatsoever. We enjoyed the Korean commercials though! Fun!

Okay! We ordered the chicken set, the pork set, seafood pancake and kimchi soup. All were yummy! Well, we are easily pleased! The banchan provided are the usual assortment of kimchi, beansprouts etc. We really liked the kimchi! It tastes exactly the same as the ones we loved in Seoul!

Kimchi soup...wow, I love this! This was the first time I had it and it's so good!
3 of us spent a total of $56 for this meal and yes, we would go back again...next month!

Here's the address if you'll like to try the place:
#01-01, Airview Building
No.2 Peck Seah Street
Singapore 079305