We were in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for work. We saw some congkak at the airport and thought we really want one. It is actually a game, but we do not want it for gaming, but more for ornamental display purpose. We love crafts so it is a neat little organiser for the table for our beads and what not. It will also look great as a tea light holder. Great piece for the coffee table. We found this one online and the owner was letting it go for a mere S$10. What a bargain for us.
Congkak (Jawi: چوڠكق ;Malay pronunciation: [ˈtʃɔŋkaʔ]) or Congklak is a mancala game of Malay origin played in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand, and some parts of Sumatra and Borneo.
Close variants are Dakon or Dhakon (Java), Sungka(Philippines), Chongka' (Marianas), Jogklak (interior of Java); Dentuman Lamban (Lampung), Mokaotan,Maggaleceng, Aggalacang or Nogarata (Celebes),Chonka (Sri Lanka) and Naranj (Maldives).
Congkak, which is often considered a game for girls, has simple rules that allow the boards to have different numbers of holes. Congkak boards are often made of teak or mahogany wood are often elaborately carved into various shapes such as nagaor birds.
Just look at what people are using it for. Looking at this, it can also be a rather cool centre piece for the dining table, well at least at the odd dinner party.
We bought a bottle of castor oil off the internet along with some other bits. We have long heard of some wonderful claims on castor oil but we want to experience it ourselves. It is said to be an ancient cure for ailments, pain, scars, liver spots...etc.
We bought it to try on everything. Calluses, scars, spots, hair. We will review it soon. This is only our first week on it. Do you have any experiences on using castor oil?
Thursday is free upsize day at the art jamming session at Arteastiq. Jeddie and S decided to go painting since Friday is a holiday and it just seems fitting. There were not a lot of people at the studio. A lot of them finish painting before their 3 hours is up and so it was only Jeddie and S left at the studio. The session starts at 6pm and ends at 9pm. S likes to document her painting progress. Her first painting was a cropped inspiration of Van Gogh's, but she reckons it is more effective and more her to do her own rather than 'copy' a reference.
This is S's first coat. Yellow was it. S likes a lot of texture and thus added those tear drop patterns to the canvas. This is achieved by squeezing the tub of paint rather than using brushes.
The drip effect is S's favorite. It creates a lot of texture in a random Jackson Pollock's style. It is however limited as not all the colours are fluid enough to achieve this.
Jeddie's palette. Very conservative in the amount of paint she was using.
S's palette with the crazy amount of paint. See how the paint is just dripping down on the palette.
Just look at the relief of the paint on the canvas.
This is the finished painting, still dripping. We couldn't bring back the painting on the night itself because it was simply too wet. We left it there overnight and decided to have some martinis down the road.
We checked out the studio at closing to see our painting a last time. People always check out the painting sessions outside the window, just wondering what they really see from here.
We had cravings for prawn soup after martinis but it is unfortunately sold out. :-(
Arteastiq – Today’s Social Painting and Tea Sipping Place
There is a huge creative potential in you that is relatively untapped, because traditionally we are in a very business and money-oriented city. People rarely take the time to explore their creative side. Arteastiq tea lounge unveils its social painting space that incorporates tea as a whole therapeutic experience that exposes the artistic you.
Customers are given a 50 x 50 cm or 60 x 80cm canvas, unlimited acrylic paint, sponges, brushes and paint palette and are let loose with their imaginations. One free beverage from Arteastiq will be supplied and would-be artists can also order alcoholic beverages to help stimulate the flow of creative juices.
Arteastiq is set to be the latest rave in Singapore. Arteastiq jamming studio allows up to 30 pax in total, an original ad hoc freestyle group painting and tea party place. Start JAMMING now!
This is the reference I cropped from one of Van Gogh's. The colours are very pretty and unusual but it is definitely a brave attempt to do something by a master.
We had Korean hawker fare at the food court at Copthorne. This is cooked by Koreans! but with cheerful food court prices. My hot plate chicken set is a mere S$6.50 and Jeddie's beef soup set is S$6.50.
A painting as such takes forever. The layering and the amount of paint that goes on it takes a long time to dry before you can apply the next layer.
One hour left. This is the thing about art jamming. You only have 3 hours. You can essentially add on the hours at S$5/hr but I think the real art is to time yourself properly.
Really gutted by this blurred photo I took of the canvas before packing it. In this why Tilly cannot even see the actual beauty of the piece. No texture shown here for sure.
Jeddie painting 'The Kiss'. In her own interpretation that is. Very brave to attempt it.
My painting is so thick with acrylic I almost thought it is impossible for me to carry it home on the day itself. However the packaging from Arteastiq is quite well done. They staple the back of your canvas onto the cardboard carrier so that the front will not touch the carrier. Hence, you have a space between your painting and the carrier. It is good protection and also gives it air to dry. We carried it on the bus and had no problem.
S bought a couple of the Mouth Restaurant's Scallion Chicken deal from the online BigDeal promotion. We had the option to dine in or have it as a takewaway.
WHAT WE ORDERED
Scallion Chicken : S$11 is the voucher deal
We had to top up S$2 for the takeaway and also the GST (S$0.95). We paid S$13.95 in total.
OUR RATING FOR FOOD : 3/5. The chicken was tender and S loved the scallion sauce. T thought that it was a bit mild. He ate the chicken with some tabasco sauce which wasn't a bad idea. The restaurant should perhaps provide a chilli sauce too. The chicken was a bit skinny though. One chicken was enough for the 2 of us without any additional side sishes.. We felt full after that. We have another chicken voucher to utilize. It is definitely worth it for the restaurant quality. We would probably not go for it without the deal as it is a pretty same chicken for what it is worth.
OUR RATING FOR SERVICE : We cannot really rate the service as we did not dine there. They did chop up the chicken only when we arrived to collect it. So, we were sure the chicken was fresh and not dried out.
S bought a couple of this voucher for 50%. We could use up to S$80 worth of voucher for each table. We booked a table for the 1st of May since it was a holiday and about the ony day we could safely meet for lunch without having to work. Work over the weekend seems very frequent these days.
The restaurant is located at Ion Orchard. Not a shabby place for a restaurant. It is alfresco as the name suggested.
The price of the food is a bit high for its quality. It is not fresh pasta but it will still set you back for about S$22 for a carbonara before GST and service charge.
The carbonara was tasty. S had it and T had the red snapper on a bed of ratatouille. The carbonara was not with fresh pasta which wasn't that much of a deal really. It was cooked with cream and topped with an egg yolk. There was bacon and garlic, and how about 1 cherry tomato!!! We do not like to take photographs during our meals. Not a practise, not something we enjoy seeing people do too. Hence we do not have a photo of our carbonara to prove it. Our dish was a bit far from the picture. It didn't have the chives, the fish roe and definitely not that many cherry tomatoes. Tasty nonetheless, just a bit disappointing that it wasn't what you see is what you get.
WHAT WE ORDERED
Carbonara : S$22
Red Snapper : S$28
Creme Brulee : S$14
All these set us back for about S$80 which came in as the 2 vouchers we bought. Perfect, with no more or less to pay. We did order a bottle of wine to share. So we only paid for that as beverages are not included in the deal.
OUR RATING FOR FOOD : 3/5
OUR RATING FOR SERVICE : 2/5. The waiting staff were young and somewhat inexperience hence the score.
OUR RATING FOR AMBIENCE : 2.5/5. It is Ion Orchard, it is alfresco, but the decor is rather tacky. It isn't posh, nor is it romantic. It is simply comfortable and casual. We will probably not be back soon if there is no voucher deal. Setting back S$80 for 2 mains and a dessert is quite expensive without the discount.
We have been watching Luke Nguyen in Vietnam. We went grocery shopping yesterday and bought some cheap chicken breasts which we have to finish by today. So, learning from Luke's recipes, there is this lemongrass chilli chicken which sounds awesome
Luke uses chicken fillet but hey, breasts cannot hurt. And much more, webought a can of coconut juice from the office vending machine to use in this recipe this evening. Just S$0.50, yippee!
Lemongrass chilli chicken recipe (ga xao xa ot)
 INGREDIENTS
500 g chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite size pieces
3 tbsp fish sauce
1.5 tbsp sugar
2 lemon grass stalks, white part only, finely diced
4 garlic cloves, finely diced
2 long red chilli, finely diced
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 onion, cut into wedges
1 cup young coconut juice
3 coriander sprigs for garnish

PREPARATION
In a mixing bowl combine fish sauce, sugar and mix until sugar has dissolved. Add half of the lemon grass, half of the garlic, half of the chilli and all of the chicken. Coat the chicken then marinate it covered and refrigerated for 1 hour or over night for a better result.
Bring a large saucepan or wok to medium heat, add oil and remaining lemon grass, garlic, chilli, and fry until fragrant and slightly brown.
Turn heat to high then add the chicken sealing all sides until browned, around 2 minutes on each side.
Now add coconut juice, onions and cover with a lid, then cook on medium heat for a 5 minutes or until sauce has reduced by half.
Transfer to a bowl, garnish with coriander and eat with jasmine rice.
We had Korean hawker fare at the food court at Copthorne. This is cooked by Koreans! but with cheerful food court prices. My hot plate chicken set is a mere S$6.50 and Jeddie's beef soup set is S$6.50.
