The Beauty of doing nothing : October 2010

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Make up and me

Dearies,

Just to share my two cents worth on make up. I realised that when I'm in Frankfurt, I don't wear that much make up and most days non at all, heh. First, my other half don't really like make up and second maybe with good weather, I seriously do not need anything, just moisturiser, lip balm (pink tint) and I'm good to go. Anyway my essentials are just compact powder, blusher, eye liner and lipstick. My favourite colours are pink, dark pink, coral. Though I like eye shadow, I realised too that I have kinda stop wearing them completely, used to like light glittery green, purple and baby blue eyeshadows and wore them a lot like maybe 5 years ago. Yes it was that long ago! I started wearing make up at an early age, experimenting with my mum's make up collection and actually wearing them outside as early as 10! Maybe its make up fatigue but honestly now I just wear the bare minimum and put on eye shadow and mascara only when attending special events.

Here goes the junk in my make up bag, really old stuff hehe..

1) Chanel Double Perfection Compact

- Matte reflecting powder make up

- I really love Chanel compact

coz its so light and makes your complexion flawless

even without foundation on

2) Estee Lauder Tender Blush

- Peach Nuance

- Its a gradient peachy colour that gives a natural look

-Not sure if they still have it (quite ancient)

3) Chanel Creme lipstick in Rose Secret (no. 138)

- Love Chanel lipstick for its creaminess

and rose scent

- This shade is a bit dark pink so I will mix it

with the lightest pink

or over a lip balm to dilute the colour a bit

4) Chanel Rouge Allure (no. 40) prodigious

-This is a shimery coral colour

-Suitable for night and special events

5) Mac lipstick in Amplified

-Love this perfect pink colour

-Can wear it alone or combine with other colour

-It is creamy and smells simply delicious,

kinda like chocolate!

6) Dior Addict Plastic Gloss (no. 674)

- Super glossy (sticky), suitable for night

-The dark pink is so glamourous

with gold specks under the light

7) Eye liner Superior in soft black

-Made in Germany

8) Eye shadow palette

-I bought this from a friend back home

and decided to bring it here to play with

as you can see it remains untouched

-Seriously, I think it is more practical and fun

to buy eye shadows in this palette type.

Much cheaper than buying individual colour pot,

which will take forever to finish.

8) Bvlgari pocket perfume

9) Cute mirror case from HK

10) Black mascara from Estee Lauder

-That has been misplaced at the moment :P

There you go just to share the essentials in my make-up bag, except for the eye shadow palette of coz.

Is this cool or what?

Just got this from Dorchester Hotel,

it is a lipgloss that comes with an LED light and mirror at the side

So practical!

Thats about it, my pathetic make up collection in Frankfurt, :P

Tata for now, bis dann tschuss! :))

Nightwalk in Frankfurt - Opera house, Goethestrasse

Dearies,

After having hot chocolate and chewy choc chip at Starbucks, where else (did u guess correctly? :P), Im so addicted to it, we (me n husb :D) decided to take a walk around Goethestrasse and all the way to the Opera House. In exactly 2 months I will be heading back to Singapore for good. Going to miss this place so much!! But at the same time really excited to go back coz I miss home~ ie family, friends and food!! :D

If you happen to go to Frankfurt and is seriously in need of luxury branded stuff this is the street to be. Goethestrasse, where you can get your Chanel, Prada, LV, Gucci, Burberry, Tiffany, Ferragamo and many more. It is one of my favourite street for Obvious reason :) But I was sorely disappointed when I found out they have no Miu Miu and the Prada store was almost invisible and they took almost a year to finally open its big boutique, which they just did few weeks ago. And if you are looking for Balenciaga, nope, nowehere to be found! That is the thing that I now appreciate in small city Singapore, we might be tiny in size but we do have Everything! Just drop any brand names, and we definitely have it, and not just 1 pathetic store. I have even lost count on the number of LV stores we have in Orchard Road alone.

Oh how I miss Orchard Road! It is shopping paradise indeed! Yeah, we may lack the ancient architecture but our abundance store more than makes up for those hungry shoppers, hungry for the latest trends and also literally Hungry after all the shopping, and when it comes to satisfying all kinds of food cravings, our food scene rarely disappoints.

Beautiful commerze bank

Yes, there are many banks here and they all look this good

Opera House

Cafes along the Opera House

No, I did not see any coins in the fountain

Frankfurters are practical people :P

More cafes

Hey wait! Takes 5 quick steps back!

Isn't that MIU MIU?!

Are my eyes playing tricks on me in the middle of this chilly night? *Spooks

There is no denying, the ruched detail, though Prada has that too, the new turn lock thingy

IT IS MIU MIU!

So it seems after the opening of the big Prada boutique, they decided to give their old space to their little sister Miu Miu. So basically they just change the name. Well seems that Frankfurt is moving up a notch, whatever, just when I'm leaving.

Drools at bag~

Doesn't this look like the Mulberry Alexa?

Mulberry Alexa in Oak

Drool~

This bag has been haunting me for quite some time now!

Am seriously considering of getting it since I will be going to London this Nov and Mulberry is after all born in England. But, first what I need right now is a black bag and based on the pictures I've seen the black alexa is the most boring, the black is totally dead, I prefer the grape (blue) colour

(Match with what?).

Second, I've seen, in pictures too, coz I've yet to meet this Alexa (the bag not the person) in real life, and based on what I see, when you put stuff inside (of coz u need to put stuff in the bag) the bag will sag in a weird way where the flap is kinda open at the sides, it looks messy and not classy at all :(

I can't exactly try that out at the stores can I

(Hey lady! (salesgirl) can I put my 10 kg junk into the bag to see if it will work? :P)

Anyways, thats all for tonight, I hope you enjoy the nightwalk around Goethestrasse and thank you for reading the dilemma in my head :P For those readers who have some thoughts on it, feel Free to comment :) I would Really LOVE to read your comments!

Tata for now, bis dann tschuss! :))

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Guess where i am? ;)

Friday, October 29, 2010

Simple Moroccan Chicken Lemon Tagine

Dearies,

After publishing the post on Morocco, I was suddenly hungry for Moroccan food, hehe. So I raided my kitchen to see the ingredients I have and decided to make a simple version of Chicken Lemon Tagine for dinner last night. Though I have the heavy tagine, I decided to make this dish using just a simple normal pot :) Tagine dishes can also be done using a pressure cooker to save time and also to get the melt in your mouth effect to the chicken meat and vege pieces. Using the normal pot, you just have to cook longer with the lid close and bit of opening to let the steam out. But of course using the Tagine is the original way to cook it to get the smoky flavour :)

What you need:

- 4 small or 2 big onions
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 1-2 tomatoes
- 4 potatoes
- 4 carrots
- 2 big chicken breasts / half chicken
- 2 preserved lemons
- Handful coriander
- Handful preserved green olives (or just fresh green olives)
- 5 tablespoon of lemon juice from the preserved lemon
- Salt, pepper and paprika to taste
-5 tablespoon olive oil (Yes! to fry the onions and Everything and also for flavour)
- 1.5 litre of water
(you can add more water for more gravy or if the water dries up and the veges and meat are not fully tender, check halfway through the cooking process and adjust accordingly)

Preserved Lemon

You can make your own Preserved Lemon:

- Stuff salt into lemon by making slits through the lemon but do not cut through

- 1 tablespoon salt for each lemon

- Use a tight lid glass jar

- Put in the stuffed lemons, 3 teaspoon lemon juice

- Fill the jar with water and close tight

- Turn the jar occasionally after a week or so

- After a month, your preserved lemons are ready

- You can keep it for 6 months!

- Use a label and write down the date on the jar so you won't forget :)

Preserved green olives

to be added

5 minutes before serving

Cooking away~

Cooking time!

- Chop onions, garlic, ginger, coriander, tomatoes (sliced or cubed)

- Cut potatoes and lemons in quarters and carrots lengthwise

- Heat the pot, put the olive oil

- Add in onions, garlic, ginger, fry until the onions are soft and fragrant

-While stir frying, add salt, pepper, paprika and some coriander

-As it starts to dry up, add tomatoes and chicken meat

(The tomatoes and meat will give out liquid)

- Add lemon juice, salt, pepper, paprika, and the remaining coriander

- Make sure the meat is cooked, if its too dry, add a little bit of water

- Add potatoes and carrots, stir and mix well

- Finally add the rest of the water, put in the lemon quarters and cover, leave a slight opening to let the steam out

- Use medium heat throughout the whole process

- Stir occasionally and check that the carrots, potatoes and meat are thoroughly cooked and tender

- The chicken meat, potatoes and carrots should be soft and there should be some gravy

- Add the preserved olives, cover and it is ready to be served! :D

The smell is so appetising~ drool~~

Moroccan Chicken Lemon Tagine

served with Moroccan flat bread

Bon Apetit!

Tata for now~~ Bis dann tschuss! :))

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Sunset in Morocco...

Dearies,

I had the opportunity to spend the last week of Ramadhan and Eid in Rabat, Morocco this year, my first time. The weather was quite hot! Coming from Frankfurt :D Some days it was even hotter than back home in Singapore. The sun just seemed to be shining extra bright and on top of fasting, so I stayed mostly indoors and went out at night after iftar and terawih prayers.

The atmosphere was really festive especially at the Medina, city. It was packed every single night! There is no leisure walk to soak in the atmosphere (smoky air from the barbecued sausages) as you have to push your way among the crowd and it was almost impossible for me to snap any pictures! Just go, get what we need and leave.

Street food is the BEST! Here in the medina, you can find the best sausages or sardines stuffed in pita bread served with lots of coriander and onions (Now I know why Mint tea is a staple.....hehe). The freshly squeezed orange juice, I can gulp 2 tall glasses each time and avocado juice mix with anything you want, my favourite is avocado and mango :D

I will call it the city that never sleeps or at least in Ramadan coz all the cafes are packed and roads jammed even after midnight. Basically everywhere is crowded. People everywhere, family having a picnic at night and kids running around like theres no tomorrow..

However I find Eid in Morocco to be a quiet family affair (though I was there for only 2 days of Eid :))compared to back home in Singapore where we celebrate it for a month! Yes! A whole month of endless visiting relatives and friends and gorging on delicious traditional food, cakes and cookies. Whatever pounds u lose from fasting, you put back on and Even more! But who can resist ;)

So here are some pictures that I managed to snap without me in it :P