Tuesday, November 29, 2011

My new camera

I got an early Christmas present from my Lg! It's an Olympus Pen E-P3 bundled with two lens. It was after months of research and consideration to get the most suitable camera for me to upgrade from a point and shoot camera. I still love my TX1 but I've always wanted to own a vintage retro looking camera.

Fujifilm FinePix X100 was my first choice, but I withdrew the idea of having one after reading reviews on some forums that X100 is a quirky and complicated camera with all the manual settings that's only fit for a pro but I'm not!

The price of Fujifilm X100 is ridiculously expensive, I thought of buying a DSLR camera instead! Canon EOS 600D was what I thought of. The alternate name for Canon EOS 600D is Canon Rebel or Canon Kiss, it sounded pretty cool and girlish! But Lg is super dreadful towards DSLRs as they're bulky and he hated the ego that comes with it. He often told me a DSLR looked lame and pretentious on a person that doesn't know how to use it well.

He did his research and suggested me to look at Olympus Pen E-P3. I wasn't convinced with the Pen series at first, especially the new E-P3 because of its price tag. We argued several times over this, because I stubbornly thought that I would rather get a 600D with the price of E-P3 .

But I changed my mind after one incident when I was trying my hands on 600D. I noticed their rubberized grip being torn and hanging loosely on the camera. Then the sale's assistant told me because 600D body is reinforced polycarbonate so this would happen sooner or later. After umpteenth times of comparing different types of cameras again. I concluded the Olympus Pen E-P3 suited me best! Even with its sturdy magnesium alloy chassis, it's smaller to carry around than 600D, it has a retro look like X100 but easier to handle.

I'm very long winded here, but I just want to sort out my thoughts and get myself ready to cope with this new camera and promise to use it well with its manual functions.

I'm excited to dress up my camera with its accessories like matching leather skin, leather case and my favorite is their Leather Cooper bag.
These are some pictures I took with my new Pen E-P3. The settings were in I-Auto mode and I'm pleased with their image qualities.

These were taken in some art filter modes. There are 36 art filters, I'm very amazed!

The more I interacted with this camera, the more I felt in love with its super easy to handle character. It's so effortless to produce beautiful pictures without complicated manual handling.  I'm happy with my choice and grateful for having it from my Lg!



Friday, November 25, 2011

Painting on an eggshell

Last time I mentioned in this post that I've got a chance to paint on an eggshell but I didn't show the full view of my artwork then. So here it is!


This eggshell painting was completed in a rush of time with limited colors, I used mainly 3 colors in this. It's a lovely lotus pond with scenery and warm sky! I didn't have time to think of what I wanted to paint, it's a spontaneous picture developed by itself again.



Spontaneous Watercolor

Finally a practice piece that I really like! I'm learning to build up my patience and let go of a terrible character of mine which is getting disappointed at myself easily.


I like to paint without a sketch, I like to watch the movement in watercolor and see it form a picture by itself. This piece was a spontaneous picture of few strokes that make a waterfall and some paint sprayed to create blossoms.



Sunday, November 20, 2011

Elephant Parade at Tangs Orchard

While shopping around Tangs, I was attracted by their glittering Christmas deco with colorful elephant statues displayed around.

I followed these elephant's path and they led me to a shop with many different painted and decorated elephants that made me go "Wow!!!"


These belong to "The Elephant Parade: the world’s largest open air art exhibition of decorated elephant statues that seeks to attract public awareness and support for Asian elephant conservation".


I initially wanted to buy some elephants to support the cause and also because I couldn't resist these pretty and unique elephants! But I was spoiled for choice by looking at so many of them, I decided to grab a book that contained most of the decorated elephant pictures and the description of artists about their inspiration of designing their artworks on the elephants.

A while later, I felt a strong liking for one particular elephant with light reflecting from it as if it was shining into my eyes. It even has a heart shape on its head that I adore!

Near to the counter I saw a little pink elephant and I bought it too!



Saturday, November 19, 2011

Plants and cute stuff

I've successfully grown bitter gourd plant in a pot and let its vines climb on my balcony grilles. I love bitter gourd dishes and the smell of their leaves.


My little garden.


Some other plants that I've grown, chilli, pomegranate, eggplant, small mandarin orange and Yomogi, also called "Ngải Cứu" in Vietnamese, I like this herb very much, it's a common herb in Vietnam and I've grown up eating it.


Lg bought me this Hello Kitty bowl with rose patterns, it's very cute!!! He often surprises me with cute little things.


He also bought for me some furry decorative stickers that I super love.



Thursday, November 17, 2011

Cooking and Dancing

Two new dishes added to my home cooking labels. I enjoy cooking as much as seeing Lg enjoy my home cooked food.

Oyakodon, one of the dishes I often cook for him. I added baby corns, potatoes and leeks in this dish as these are Lg's favorite veggies.


Squid with Veggie Stew. This is purely my invention. I stir fried squids with onions then added shoyu, mirin and sake, simmered it for a while before adding veggies. Simple and delicious!


Two new dance videos! These are sexy moves!







Sunday, November 13, 2011

My Uncle Ken

Uncle Ken is one of many nicknames that I called my hubby! He only gave me one nickname though, which is Bear Bear.

Lately I felt more affectionate towards my hubby, like I finally found the true love or something.

I have to admit I wasn't serious about our relationship at the beginning. But I realized that his love for me is constant and unchanging! I'm mad at him sometimes for being too nice to me, always apologizing even if it wasn't his fault, for making me his life even when I felt like I wasn't worth it.


Anyway, another dance central video I've just uploaded on Youtube danced by my Uncle Ken. He shook his way to keep fit and the results really showed after a month.




Friday, November 11, 2011

Tough Beef

Not long ago, Lg captured my funny expressions when I was trying to chew some super tough beef at Lerk Thai restaurant. The beef was so tough that I couldn't bite it into smaller pieces but I had to swallow the whole piece and nearly choked on it. I gave up on the remaining piece.




Thursday, November 10, 2011

Curry House CoCo Ichibanya

I finally tasted the world famous Japanese curry from Curry House CoCo Ichibanya at Somerset 313, level B3! Their prices are surprisingly affordable and customers get to customize main courses like how much rice or how spicy they want.


I enjoyed their curry very much, my favorite place for lunch.



Thursday, November 03, 2011

Cute Babies

I used to think babies are like strange objects, hard to understand them and I'm really scared of them crying or screaming! I used to think of not wanting to have a baby of my own! But lately, I've met so many well-behaved babies with angelic faces that made my heart melt!!!

Baby Y Nhi, my niece! I love her even before she was born, when she was still inside her mommy's tummy! Her eyes are huge and beautiful! My sister is so blessed that she has this sweet angel! I love to spoil my niece and she is a very sensible baby at the age of two.

Baby Zhu Xuan, my grand-niece!!! She is a sweet and sassy little "lady" with attitude at the age of three! I adore her and love her so very much!


Baby Eita Kawashima!!! I kissed and hugged Eita whenever I'm close to him! At the age of one, he is curious about everything, but not afraid of strangers! I like him a lot!

These angels are a few that changed my perception about having a baby!!! Still, I'm not ready to be a mother, but maybe someday! :P




My second Dance Central video on youtube!!!



Enjoy!!! :P



Home Cooking

I love cooking and Lg loves eating whatever I cook. He likes Asian food and rice, so most of the time our dinner consisted of rice and some dishes to accompany it.

Some dishes I often cook are:

Mei Cai Kou Rou, Steamed Pork With Mustard Greens. I roasted the pork belly by myself then steamed it.

Omu-rice, I mastered my skill of cooking this dish thanks to the Japanese cooking show "26 hours/day".

Kakiage Udon, a simple and healthy dish! I usually use carrots to make kakiage.

Scallion Pastry with Karasumi/Mullet Roe. Lg's favorite dish since his childhood!

French Toast, a simple dish and Lg often asked me to make this for his supper.

Red Wine Chicken Stew, it's not oily as it seems, I use extra virgin olive oil for this dish.

Stir Fried Beef with Chichinga. We both love this dish.

Simple Stir Fried Veggie.

Stir Fried Petai, I like spicy food.

Whitebait with ginger. This is a very addictive dish to me, sometimes i cook with cherry tomatoes or radishes.



Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Lilac love

Had fun doing my manicure today, a little decor and glitter made it so cute!

After putting on base coat on my nails, I painted OPI "Royal Flush Blush" nail polish, but I didn't like it at that moment, hahahah, *always depends on my mood*, so I picked up OPI "Do You Lilac It" and it turned out great!!!


The pinkish tone perked up the lilac color immediately after one coating.

I decorated my nails with these accessories from Daiso to complete a cute look.