Making face powder and body powder

I have been using my loose powder (Aubrey Organics) and body powder (Country Comfort Baby Powder) from iHerb.com for a year or so. I like that they contain natural ingredients instead of chemicals and they work well for me. I did some research online and it seems that some people are making their own powders. After buying powder arrowroot yesterday, I decided that I shall blend my own powders and see if they will work as well. My loose powder is made up of arrowroot powder (3 tablespoons), green tea powder (1 teaspoon), cocoa powder (1 teaspoon) and a few drops of rose vanilla oil. The body powder contains same amount of arrowroot and green tea as well as a number of drops of lavender oil. One smells chocolatey and the other has lavender aroma. I hope my skin will accept them when I apply over the week.

Making chocolate almond spread

I felt like making something today that could use my Ghiradelli chocolate bars. Since I have some almond meal, I thought I could grind the almond to butter but that didn't happen. My spread is a bit grainy and bittersweet with a tinge of saltiness. I like :)

Organic veggies

I have been getting some organic veggies from a little shop 15 mins' walk away from my home. Since I like to cook my own meals on weekends and eat my bread with capsicum almost every morning, I don't mind paying a bit more :)

Lovely Sat evening with 2 old friends

The 2 girlfriends treated me to dinner at Tamago at Teacher's Estate. We had a short walk at this area in Yishun near Seletar Air Base, where people were enjoying cool breeze, fishing or having a picnic. Before going home, we had dessert at Ice Cream Chefs but we were a bit disappointed by the taste of the ice cream flavours (seems like chocolate flavour is always a safe choice) and the iced mocha.

Modeling for Sis' jewelry

Sis wanted to show visitors how her necklaces look like around the neck and resting on the torso. She asked me if I can be her model. It was quite fun and I made funny smiles even though she wasn't taking photos of my face :) The photos are not up yet but you can visit Sis' shop (http://www.etsy.com/shop/ThatSneakyCatShop) to admire her creations and photos. This photo was taken by me @ a weird angle :)

Head massage for Cinnamon

Dad was giving Cinnamon a massage while reading the newspapers :)

Sweet potatoes, Bob & veggies

I took a break from baking this weekend, but I still wanted to cook my meals. I steamed the organic sweet potatoes for lunch and cooked lots of veggies with minced pork and rice. And I gave Bob and the cats more attention.

Simple yeast-free pizza

I didn't have any yeast at home, so I tried a recipe for yeast-free pizza crust yesterday. My family doesn't like the crust, so the remaining 4 slices will be my breakfast the next few days.

Chocolate milk Popsicles

I made these popsicles for me and sis by first mixing cocoa powder, milk powder, honey and water together and pouring the cooled liquid into my Zoku Popsicle maker. I added green tea powder into my Popsicle which made it sweet and slightly bitter. Sis likes her choc milk popsicle and mom said I'll be making Popsicles every weekend. Maybe :)

Oat yogurt quick bread

I wanted to finish the remaining yogurt and make a simple bread without use of yeast. This recipe seems simple and I wasn't disappointed when I tried it last night and ate with capsicum and mulberry jam for breakfast earlier.

Cake and popsicles

Yesterday I spent the afternoon baking vanilla yogurt cake and making honey lemon popsicles. Both are yummy :)

Belated birthday gifts for 35 year old me

The past few days I received 3 gifts - from R to make me smell good, from S (the owl figurine) to further beautify my room and from the 2 girls to make my own Popsicles :)

Baking madeleines

Dad and mom bought 2 madeleine trays from Daiso some weeks back and I had been wanting to try baking madeleine. I initially wanted to bake them yesterday on my birthday but ended up spending the afternoon clearing office emails. I prepared the batter last night and kept in fridge for baking today. The madeleines turned out a bit too oily as I may have coatwd the moulds with too much oil. But they are still edible.

Fat Cat looking for a job?

Yesterday morning, Fat Cat's teeth and gum didn't give him too much discomfort, so he settled down quite fast in eating his breakfast. I didn't notice the newspaper placemat was from Recruit until a friend pointed it out to me :)

Waking up with Bob on weekends

I could linger on the bed longer with Bob on weekends and see how he sleeps/rests in such adorable manner. Yesterday I captured him in various poses :)

That Sneaky Cat Shop

Sister has just opened her shop on Etsy.

 It's called "That Sneaky Cat Shop" and she describes her creations as 

"Sterling silver, gold filled, brass and gemstone adornments made with love and in limited quantities. From elegantly simple vintage-inspired jewelry to whimsical pops of color for when you just want something fun.  Every piece is lovingly made by me and is a piece I would happily wear. I'm inspired by vintage jewelry, nature, architecture, sometimes a word or phrase - many, many things!" 

Check out her shop, if you are in need of pretty trinkets :)

What are important to me?

I was on a 10-day course recently and one of the interesting things that our training facilitator got 18 of us to do was to draw on a small paper cake box what are important to us individually. On top of the box, I drew my family, S and ABC. If I have more time, I would draw the community cats too :)

What do ABC do at night?

Sleeping, staring and acting cute :)

Alumni gathering at my secondary school

On 12 Apr, my old friend of 20 years and I met to attend our secondary school alumni gathering. On the way, we saw a friendly cat at the void deck of a block of flats and gave him our attention. When we reached the canteen of our school, it was packed with ex-students much younger than us, busy catching up with their friends and teachers. We bought our dinner from a stall and it cost only $1.80 and the teriyaki fish with veggie and rice tasted like a home cooked meal. Our dear friend, one of the organizers for the event, briefly chatted with us for a while, before we made our way home.

Cooking my weekend meals

On weekends I enjoy cooking meals for myself, as I can add lots of vegs and season with just enough salt and black pepper. I guess it's kind of like a hobby :) and it's nice to be able to feed myself with healthy and not yucky food. Haha

Healthy quick bread

I've been wanting to try one of the recipes using spelt to make a quick bread. Today was the day and it was fairly simple and fast to prepare. With baking soda instead of yeast, the bread muffins turn up hard and dry outside and only a little soft inside. The honey taste isn't detectable but there is a slight nutty smell from the spelt flour. They will be eaten up by me alone as my family prefers soft bread. I tried one which was quite yummy with strawberry jam :)

Baking 1234 cake again

I made cupcakes from the 1234 cake recipe in Jan. On Sat, I baked the batter in the square Pyrex dish and melted Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate bar with a little bit of butter and low-fat milk and almond. When the cake was ready, I cut it up into pieces, spread the chocolate ganache between the sandwiched pieces and on top. I like the taste better than the earlier attempt :)

Angel and thunder

Angel was wide-eyed when there was thunder in the mid-afternoon. I stroked him for a while before he slowly moved to one of the rooms.

Bob and napping

I brought Bob home at the start of the long weekend, after entrusting S to take care of him for 2 days and 3 nights. I enjoy watching Bob taking his naps in cute poses. And the past few days I caught him "in action".

Cinnamon and Sis

Cinnamon adores Sis. She likes watching sis making her jewelry. Recently she even napped next to her :)

Cooking my lunch

On Fri and Sun (yesterday), I decided to cook as I was tired of eating outside food. When cooking for myself, I can find whatever veggies in the fridge, and season with ketchup, chilli/black pepper and salt. Usually they taste quite yummy :)

Souvenirs from a good friend's solo trip to Japan

FT was back in office early last week after her week-long holiday to Tokyo, Nara and Kyoto. She shared with us a bit of her positive experiences in Japan and we were smiling and laughing. The sweet girl also gave me the maccha bean snack and a cute cloth that I could use to wrap a small lunch box. I wonder when I will visit Japan.