The Shapewear Saga

For those of you interested in the shapewear saga, I've finally found something that fits relatively well!

Went to OG (since I'm a member now) and headed to the lingerie section. I was looking at Triumph's range of shapewear when this salesgirls approaches me and asks if I need any help. Naturally, I ask for the most-control underwear, and the most-push up bra available.

She picks out a few pieces of super-tight-dress-like things, some high waisted panty-looking things, and some push up bras with various widths of straps (apparently the thicker ones are good to hold in back fats hur hur).

I have to say, salespeople at OG are generally quite genuinely friendly and helpful. We try on a few pieces and none are as much of a struggle to put on and pull off as the M&S ones. The level of control and shaping is quite decent, and I'm pleased.

The shocker is when she shows me the push up bras that she picked out. After taking my measurements, she whips out a D-cup bra.

Me: I'm not D-cup.

Salesgirl: The cutting is small. Just try first.

LO AND BEHOLD. I AM A TRIUMPH D-CUP.

I don't know how to process this information, but I'm glad I manage to get something that fits. The cost is a bit steep (I've never bought underwear that cost SO much) but I guess that's the price to pay to look good. At least I hope I look good and not fakely well-endowed in my new D-Cup bra. Lol.

On The Quest For Shapewear

The lady at the shop where I'm making my dress suggested that I get a push up bra and girdle for my next fitting. "You want this *pokes boobs* to stick out and this *pokes belly* to go in." 

Okaaaay. 

So I shop around. Marks & Spencers have a decent range and the salesperson at the shop was really helpful. She picked out one that looked like a swimsuit. "Convenient," I thought. "No need to buy separate pieces."

I pop into the fitting room and strip to my undies. "Pull it down from your top," was the instruction I was given. The piece fit over my head but got stuck at my shoulders. After much yanking and contortion, I finally manage to get it on. I button the clasps at the crotch and put on my clothes. 

No wonder people wear shapewear. My body is noticeably tighter and although difficult to put on, it was fairly comfortable. Feeling pleased, I strip off my clothes and unbutton the clasps and attempt to pry this tight fitting thing off my not-so-tight body. 

If it was hard to put on, it was even harder to take off! I yank and I twist and I sit on the floor, on the verge of tears. I consider buying the thing on the spot and heading home to ask +3 to pull it off for me. 

I channel my inner yogi (from that one yoga session I did seven years ago) and try again. Eventually I manage to extract my left arm, which is now red from all that rubbing, and finally remove the darned piece. 

Plus ten points for shaping my body as advertised, minus a billion points for being so effing hard to put on and off. 

A few days later, undeterred, I pop into another M&S shop. I spied a waist-cincher which looked relatively easy to put on - just wrap around your waist and hook it up. 

I have to say M&S have really decent shapewear. I managed to do up all the buttons and have my waist squeezed by probably and inch or more but all that squeezing meant that my fats had to go someplace - up (back fats, not boobs) and down (reverse muffin top). I looked like I was going burst. 

After having squeezed myself into two M&S shapewear, I thought I'd try out another popular brand, Spanx.Unfortunately, the pieces I tried didn't feel like they had very much control and really just felt like I was wearing something fitting. 

Sigh.

The search continues but I only have a few more days before my fitting. Need to find something soon!

Spoke Too Soon

Ah how optimistic I was when I last wrote that we were almost done with our shopping for wedding stuff. Was at OG today when I realised we still needed to buy bedsheets for our new bed. Lol.

So we shopped around and thankfully OG was having a sale, so we managed to get some really nice sheets (with a quilt cover plus a quilt too) for a decent price. Sure there were cheaper sheets but why not start our married life with something better?

Beginning to feel the pinch in our wallets but I guess that is all part and parcel of the whole works. Counting down!

Shopping, Shopping

I think we are almost done with shopping for wedding essentials. I've gotten my dress, +3's gotten his suit, and we both bought shoes today. All I have left to do is buy a push-up bra hahaha.

It feels good to know that things are moving along. Counting down!

Beef Stew - Cooked in Pressure Cooker

One of the best beef stews I've cooked. Really love the pressure cooker as it makes the beef so tender.

Ingredients:
Beef, cut into cubes
2 beef stock cubes
2 carrots
1 onions
5 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons tomato paste
12 baby potatoes
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
butter
water
salt
pepper
3 bay leaves

Method:
Marinate beef with salt and pepper. Melt butter and saute onions, garlic and beef. Mix the beef stock cubes in a cup of hot water and add to pot. Add tomato paste and stir. Add chopped carrots, potatoes, cherry tomatoes and bay leaves and enough water to cover. Cover pressure cooker and cook for 20 minutes once the pressure is up.

Have Bed, Can Sleep

And we've ticked off one more item on our wedding to-do list, which is to buy a new marital bed. +3 had initially thought of looking for one closer to the wedding date, but since we were in town we decided to have a look and see what the price range for beds are.

We were lucky that Tangs was having a sale, and we managed to snag a bed (plus frame and four free pillows) for a pretty good deal. Yippie!

Now that one more major item is done, it's a load off our shoulders. Onwards, we march!

Pressure Cookin'

Put my birthday present to use these couple of days and used the pressure cooker to cook a few meals. I was initially hesitant to use one (tales of explosions in my mind) but now I'm a fan!

The first meal I made was ayam pop, a fairly simple dish which cooked oh-so-quickly (5 minutes!). I let the cooker de-pressurise naturally and had such a tender, fall-off-the-bone chicken dish. Happiness!

The second dish I tried making today was porridge. I wasn't too sure the rice to water ratio (winged it with a 1:4 ratio of rice to liquid - I mixed stock and water) and read somewhere online that you have to pressurise and de-pressurise a couple of times. I'm not sure what the logic was though.

So I did just that. Turned off the heat after 5 minutes and was too anxious to wait for the pressure to go down naturally, so turned the knob like how the lady at the shop showed to de-pressurise. And that was a mistake.

I had let go of too much pressure too quickly, and rice water was gushing out of the vents. GAH. +3 came to the rescue to help me move the pressure cooker to the sink, so that the induction cooker wouldn't get too wet.

Long story short, we had a huge mess to clean up, I finally figured out the proper way to de-pressurise, and we had an idea of how much stock/water to use. But porridge that came out had the right texture, so I have to say it was a success. Yay!

It really cooks everything that much faster, and I have to say I'm glad we bought it. Yippie!

And The Shopping Begins

Oh dear. Apparently I need to have at least 2 dresses for my wedding- one for the tea ceremony and one for my solemnization. Tried to see if I could get away with just one dress but everyone says no.

Sigh.

See, if I enjoyed shopping this wouldn't be such a big deal. But I'm not a shopper (unless I'm looking for kitchen appliances) and the mere thought of shopping for clothes just makes me want to curl up in bed and sleep.

Thankfully I have girlfriends who enjoy shopping, so I can delegate this duty to them hehe. I'm sure there will be other things I need to buy too (shoes?).

Anyway counting down! Got to get these things settled soon. Taskforce meeting this week. Oh yeh!

Family Meet Complete

We just got back from a weekend in Jakarta and now we've both met all the siblings on both sides of the family. Yippie!

It was a fun weekend, and fun weekends always just fly by in a flash. Didn't really do all that much except eat, go to a couple of malls, hang out at home, walk around the neighbourhood and play monopoly.

Managed to buy some sweet potato and a large block of tempeh, so I'm quite pleased with our haul. Guess meals for the next couple of days are set! Hehe.

Being Disconnected

This is something +3 and I are trying out and I think we will continue to do. In an effort to be less connected to our phones, we have decided to not bring our phones out when we go for walks or keep our phones in our bags when we have meals together.

It's a small gesture but really makes you realise how easily distracted one gets when the phone is within arms reach. This also allows us to pay full attention to each other and our surroundings. Hehe.

Four Days?

Have we figured out the way to "extend" our weekends? Hmmmm I think we might have! The last 2 days was a perfect mix of activity and laziness, without feeling overly rushed. In fact, it feels like we've had a four day weekend!

Woke up early on Saturday morning at about 530am. Had a quick glug of lemon juice and was out of the house by 6am. Walked all the way to Old Airport Road and had breakfast there (mmm lor mee).

Took the train back, showered and napped. This was about 10am? Woke up at about 3pm, had a late lunch (Din Tai Fung you are so yumz) and headed to Vivocity where we ran into Shiny outside Toys R Us. Hehe. Bought some toiletries, hung out at Starbucks and went back home, showered, did some laundry and napped again hur hur.

Woke up and made begedil for a night time snack and then to bed afterward.

We had breakfast at Maxwell market on Sunday, then headed to China Square, Emporium, OG and Sheng Siong. Got back home, cleaned up our fishtank (2 tanks in 1!), did some laundry, then showered and napped.

Took a stroll to Robertson Quay and had a late lunch at Red House where we had Chilli Crab slurp. Browsed around Great World City after, did a spot of grocery shopping then went back home to ... (make a guess) ... nap. Was too full to have dinner hehe.
Monday was a public holiday (yay) so we cooked a nice breakfast- sausage, pan fried potatoes, grilled portobello mushrooms and a cherry tomato salad. So delicious. Lazed about at home, falling in and out of naps, and at some point I think we may or may not have had lunch. Lol.

Met my parents for dinner at Vivo and ate at Madam Kwan's. Walked around a bit despite the haze, and then home again.

Such a brilliant long weekend! I think the key is to go out in the mornings, have more naps, eat late lunches and nap again. Hehehe.

Begedil / Perkedil / Fried Potato Patties

Oh happiness! We had some potatoes sitting around and I had recently read a recipe on how to make these oh-so-delicious begedils and thought, why not? The ingredients are simple enough- potato, shallots, spring onion, salt and oil for frying. You can add some mince beef to make it extra tasty but I was too lazy to get some and didn't want to waste any meat in case my experiment went wrong.

Made 8 small patties with this recipe.

Ingredients:
3 large potatoes, peeled and sliced
4 shallots, sliced thinly
1 stalk of spring onion, sliced thinly
oil for frying
salt to taste
1 egg

Method:
Fry shallots in oil till golden brown. Remove from oil and fry potato slices till golden brown. Once potatoes are cooked, remove and mash. Add shallots, spring onion and salt. Mix well.

Roll into patties, coat with egg, fry till golden brown.

One tip I have to prevent too much splatter when frying is to dry the potato slices / shallots on a paper towel. Less water = less splat.