I've been down with the flu for the past 2 weeks and it has been quite miserable with the blocked nose and sore throat. This flu is my healing crisis from my parasite cleansing and when one is sick, one reaches for comfort and for me, one of that is tea.

 

Since Hi-Tea has a special blend of teas called "Health Series" I thought that it would be perfect to drink it while I'm under the weather. I love how each bag is individually wrapped so as to maintain its freshness. This is important because Hi-Tea teas are all natural and made with dried flowers and fruit with no preservatives.

As they come in bags, it's so easy to pop one into a mug, add hot water and let it steep for 3-5 minutes before sipping the brew. The Health tea is made with jasmine, lemon grass and dried lemon which is why the resulting brew was both refreshing in terms of taste and smell. Love how it was mildly sweet, which I was not expecting since there's lemon inside. It really helped to clear up my sinuses and relieve some of my sore throat. If you want, you can add honey to the tea and it'll be a naturally sweet and healthy drink.

For bulk brew, I used a tea pot and as mine is pretty large, I added 2 tea bags and steeped it for 5 minutes. In this case, I brewed Hi-Tea's Beauty blend. This is a blend of French Rose, jasmine flower and apple flower.

Beauty tea blend

The dried flowers themselves look so pretty so hopefully drinking the tea will help maintain my youthful skin...after all, roses are supposed to contain vitamin C. As with most flower teas, the taste of the Beauty Tea was very light, with the dominant rose flavour and ending with a subtle green apple note.

Left to right: Relaxation series, Health series, Beauty series

What I really like about Hi-Tea is the design of the boxes. I could open up the lid, bend it back and now it's like a having a tea display in my kitchen! Don't you think the teas look so pretty on my kitchen counter top? Now I know exactly what the boxes contain and can easily pick up a sachet whenever I feel like drinking a cuppa. Two thumbs up for brilliant design!

Since it's going to be Chinese New Year, I can't wait to just display the teas on my dining table so that my family and friends who are visiting can just choose whatever tea they'd like. Personally, I can't wait to try out all their flavours because they do have quite a few others to choose from:

• Fruit teas (peach, apple rose & blueberry)
• Anti-aging
• Slimming
• Relaxation
• Stevia
• Lemongrass
• Peppermint
• Flower teas (chamomile, chrysanthemum, ginseng flower, osmanthus, rose hip, rose, lavender and French rose)

To view and purchase any of these delicious and natural teas, head onto  http://shop.passhen.com/collections/hi-tea

When I saw this on my Facebook newsfeed the other day, I couldn't help but burst out laughing. It is so true that there are so many people out there who are just looking for that quick-fix or instant weight loss through diet and while it is true that the cathchin in green tea increases metabolism slightly, drinking green tea alone is not going to help you lose your fats.

Sure, there are a few slimming teas out there and the ingredients inside all work somewhat like how the catechin does. However, one cannot forget that if you only drink/eat such foods but don't exercise, it will not change anything. It increases your metabolism by only a minuscule amount.

I don't believe in the "no pain, no gain" mantra either. Exercise does not mean boring yourself on the treadmill or elliptical machine. There are so many other things to do! For example, yoga, pilates, dancing or zumba. Nonetheless, that quote above does have a lesson: in order to lose weight, you've got to put in the effort. Sorry guys, but there's no quick weight loss regime there. If you see any diet programmes that tell you that you ONLY have to eat that pill in order to lose weight, they're all lies. You might be losing precious muscle instead or merely water. Be smart.

What do you do after a Mookata session at Boat Quay? Go for desserts of course! Cube and I chanced upon Madame Patisserie and decided to indulge ourselves in this quiet little cafe that faces the Singapore River.

Firstly, ignore their menu. Unless you want to order drinks. Otherwise, walk up to their display counter where they have saliva-inducing treats waiting for you to pick and devour.

Secondly, be adventurous. One of the cakes that we chose was the Earl Grey Strawberry Mousse cake (S$8.50++) which is such a pretty thing with multiple layers of cake, mousse and strawberry jelly jam. I loved how light this was and it was not cloyingly sweet. The sharpness of the strawberry was neutralised nicely with the fluffy mouse and the bergamot from the earl grey complimented the whole bite. Oh...did I mention that this was just from 1 forkful?

Onto something a little heavier, this is the Caramelia Mousse cake (S$8.50++). The base is a brownie with small pieces of nuts. On top of that is caramelised banana slices which is buried by a layer of caramel mousse. Chocolate + Banana = match made in heaven. Although this cake was a lot heavier than the Strawberry Mousse cake, it still surprisingly easy to finish as you do not get sick of eating it after 3 bites. In terms of flavours, this is definitely is less complicated and is just a darn good cake.

Ooh...found Olaf hanging out with Baker Minions there! Hahaha...this is testament to the creative bakers behind Madame Patisserie. The kitchen looks like a wonderful and fun place to just bake and create lots of interesting desserts. If you're interested, they do have 8-week baking courses for all levels at S$500.

Madame Patisserie markets itself as a high tea cafe situated within the CBD but besides pastries, they do serve mains such as pasta and duck confit. However, with those prices, I'm not sure whether I would try them. The cakes, however, yes...I'd like to gobble down all of their creations. Alas, I have my waistline to watch.

If you're near Boat Quay/ Clarke Quay and have a cake craving, do pop over to Madame Patisserie and try out their desserts on display!

Madame Patisserie
76 Boat Quay
#01-76
Singapore 049864

Tel: +65 65367028
Website: http://www.madamepatisserie.com/pastry/

Opening Hours:
Mon – Sat: 8.00am to 11.00pm
Sun: 8.00am to 8.00pm

Siew Mai and I were hungry and thirsty after our bout of shopping, and TWG (Ion Orchard) was the nearest place for a cup of tea.  The queues are normally quite long so since an opportunity presented itself, I grabbed it.

We ordered their Prime Tea Set (S$26++) which comes with a pot of tea, 2 savoury brioches, 2 scones or 1 pastry from their cake selection, cream and their signature tea jelly.  We also topped up with a separate pot of French Earl Grey (S$11++) since the set only comes with 1.

Both Siew Mai and myself were very impressed with their extensive list of teas, which bordered on being rather intimidating because...what does one choose?!  I ended up choosing a chilled honey tea because it seemed rather soothing and interesting.

 If you order a hot tea, it'll come in a pot similar to this.  The bling you see is the teapot cozy which keeps the tea warm.  I find it very much TWG but Siew Mai called it the 'beng' teapot.  LOL.  Well...it's not for everyone.

There aren't any tea leaves in the pot so you can forget about asking them to top up with hot water.  I guess that's how they earn more money.

My honey tea was rather interesting.  It came with a separate small jug of syrup and I was thinking, "If it has honey, wouldn't it be sweet?"  It was not.

Why then is it called a honey tea?  The aroma and slight taste of honey was very distinct when you sip it without the syrup.  Add in the syrup and it intensifies the honey aroma!  Very delicious!  I guess the honey is probably from honeysuckle instead of honey honey.

Our sandwiches and scones came in a very English fashion.  I need to get one of these soon.

For the savoury sandwiches, I went for the roast chicken while Siew Mai ordered the grilled vegetables.  Both of us ended up having the 'same' sandwich because the taste of the cream cheese simply overpowered everything.  To make things worse, it was just soft.  There was no other texture then just a lump of soft mass.  Even my roast chicken 'brioche' was soft.  From the description, I thought that the cucumber and salad were in the sandwiches but I was mistaken.

On to the scones.  I love scones.  I think if you've been following my blog, you would've known how I was scoffing my face with scones in the UK in 2009, much to the chagrin of my bro.  What was impressive about the scones in TWG were not the scones themselves (they were good...don't get me wrong) but the TEA JELLY! OMG. This delightful jam was light, floral, slightly fruity and super addictive.  I could have eaten the whole tub.  I think the next time I ever eat at TWG, I'll just ask for a pot of their tea jelly and all the scones that I can eat.  After which, I'll have to walk home from Orchard just to burn off half of the calories.  LOL.

The general verdict of TWG is this - slightly pretentious.  The teas and anything made of the teas are quality but everything else just passes the taste test.  With the prices on the menu, I might just ignore the quality tea and head to Marmalade Pantry on the 3rd floor where I know that I'm getting 10x the flavour for the same prices.  Btw, if you haven't already known, the 1837 in their logo isn't the year of their establishment (which is 1995, if I'm not wrong).  According to the founders, they added 1837 into their logo in respect of when tea importation etc was established.  Ok...no comments on that.

Would I buy their teas?  Some of the basic ones are going at S$32 for 20 bags.  That's $1.50 each.  I just bought 20 sachets of tea from Marks & Spencer for $4.50.  Hmm...do I like their honey tea that much? I do have green tea and manuka honey...but I guess if you are a tea connoisseur, TWG is more worthy of one's palate.  Me? I'll stick to Marks & Spencer/ Lipton/ Whitthard's/ Twinings.

After lunch, bro suggested dessert and we were about to head over to Fruits Paradise but we chanced upon St. Marc Cafe at Vivo City.  This latest Japanese import is a cafe specialising in desserts and baked goods.  The first St. Marc Cafe was opened in Ginza in 1987 and true to it's Japanese origins, the menu had delightful names for its desserts such as:

• Kyoto delight (above)
• Little Fuji
• Gion 

They also had various ice creams served in large waffle cones too!  I ordered their Kyoto Delight which is a sundae of vanilla soft serve ice cream with matcha ice cream, azuki beans, gyuhii and mochi on a bed of corn flakes and pound cake with a pool of black sugar syrup at the bottom.  All of which was sprinkled with soy bean powder.

This sundae represents all the stuff that I love in Japan.  Yum!! Discovering the corn flakes, pound cake and black sugar was the delight for me.  However, with the syrup all at the bottom, it was incredibly sweet towards the end and I couldn't really finish it.  I'd like to have more matcha to balance the sweet though.

The signature product of St. Marc is their Chococro, which is a chocolate mochi croissant.  There were a lot of people in front of me in the queue who were buying it by the boxes so my bro naturally bought a couple of them.  Unfortunately, he and my mum started munching on them before photos could be taken.

I found it strange that St. Marc also calls the Chococro their daifuku, because it's not something in a mochi but the mochi is in the croissant.  As for the taste, I found the Chococro so-so.  You can't really fault it though.  The chocolate was smooth and reminded me of Nutella while the mochi was soft and gooey, and the croissant was buttery and flaky.  I guess it would make a nice tea snack or light breakfast with a cup of tea but I wouldn't be buying it by the boxes.  Especially when those small little buggers cost $2.60 each.

Nevertheless, I like the vibe of the cafe and I wouldn't mind trying other desserts! I have a separate tummy for desserts..lol!

St. Marc Cafe, Singapore
1 Harbourfront Walk
#01-108-110
Vivo City
Tel: +65 6222 2309
Website: http://saint-marc-sg.com/

It's the new year and as I woke up only at 1pm on New Year's Day, the parents and I decided to have lunch at Anchorpoint. There was a new sushi bar, Sushi Odayama (if I remember the name correctly), that we were hoping would open on the New Year and lo and behold...they decided to do their soft opening on 01.01.2012!!

Above is their California Roll, which is very reasonably priced at $6.80 for 8 pieces.  The layer of rice is very thin and it's chock-full of avocado and salmon!  The owner also recommended the Tamago yaki (currently named as 'egg plate' on their temp menu...my feedback to the owner was to change it to Tamago yaki) which is topped with their secret powder.  I'm guessing that their powder is a slightly variation from the traditional pink floss-like sugar.

We also tried their Double Ebi roll (top, priced at $13.80) and their Grilled Salmon Cheese roll (bottom, priced at $12.80).  The Double ebi roll was quite a delight as the prawn inside is actually tempura prawn while the top is simply boiled prawn.  The texture of the crispy tempura crust goes nicely with the unadulterated boiled prawn on the top.

As for the Grilled Salmon Cheese roll, everything was good except for the wasabi mayo that was drizzled on the top.  As you know, I detest wasabi.  Yes, I can taste it although it was very much diluted in the mayo.  Still makes me gag. Sorry...you wasabi lovers can go to your own corner. :P

Anyway, back to the food.  The owners are a young couple from China but recently got their PR status here in Singapore.  The chefs are also from China but have many years of experience working in Japanese restaurants back in their native Shanghai.  All in all, the food's quite good but as today was only their first day, there is a lot of tweaking to be done!  We were quite forgiving as such and do support them as I do want this stall to stay in Anchorpoint!  Hee hee...

For dessert, I opted for a bubble tea from yet another new store in Anchorpoint.  It's Share Tea and it is also from Taiwan, joining the ranks of Gong Cha and Koi.  Taste test - yum!  Above is my grapefruit green tea with pearls and aloe vera at $3.60 (extra charge for the aloe vera).  I was expecting grapefruit essence/ extract but was pleasantly surprised with fresh grapefruit juice and grapefruit pulp! Really refreshing and made me feel like I was really eating healthily, especially after my sushi lunch (I know, I can lie to myself).  I've tried their QQ Family Tea before (milk tea with lychee nata de coco, jelly and pearls) and it was like a tea party in the mouth.  Ok...am soo going back for more.

The parents went for the more traditional desserts of Ou-ni (yam paste with gingko nuts) and peanut paste.

All these food stalls can be found at the basement of Anchorpoint, 370 Alexandra Road, just opposite IKEA and next to Queensway Shopping Centre.

This is how 29 cups of bubble tea looks like...

My colleagues and I love Koi Bubble Tea as such, I have actually started a distribution list called "Bubble Tea" and I take orders in a spreadsheet!  :P

The pic above is only 15 cups...we started a collection point.  Haha...amazing, isn't it?  I reckon Koi ought to give us some VIP discount or something like that.  Anyhows, I love bubble tea!!!  It has been 10 years and I still have not grown out of my bubble tea phase (much to the chagrin of my mum). :D Bubble tea rulez!!

It seems as if I'm blogging A LOT today...well...that's because a lot has happened over a week and I'm just blurbing right now. Alrighty...below is a pic of me wearing the Elizabeth necklace. I only made 2 pieces - 1 for me and 1 that has been bought by Carol (thank you!). You can click on the words "Elizabeth necklace" above to view it on my OCT 1983 website.


Someone mentioned that the rosette is washed out against my pink dress but I disagree. I think it compliments the whole thing. Sorry but I'm uber colour coordinated. I'm known to wear a pink T-shirt with my pink Miu Miu and then gold slippers as those accent the gold parts of my Miu Miu. I really love this necklace....*gushes* Funny thing about inspiration is that I bought the metal part years ago intending to make a pair of earrings but I just couldn't get the 'feel' of the earrings. I bought the rosette recently and then one day...I just placed the rosette against the metal piece and VOILA~.

I sit here sipping on a bottle of very nice Chilean Sauvignon Blanc courtesy of Jiak. Yumm....today's tea party was a bit dismal and I'm disappointed at the people who said that they were turning up but didn't and wasn't even courteous enough to message me. However, to those who DID turn up....THANK YOU!! Thank you for sticking to your word and thank you for turning up even if you did not purchase anything. Your moral support means more to me!!

Nonetheless, I'm thankful that I still have made sales. :) Not even near breakeven point but some sales is better than no sales ;)

Thanks Sing (& Chowchow) for the bottles of wines. We'll have our drinking session soon.
Thanks Annie for coming down and setting up etc despite the dismal sales.
Thanks to mum for taking charge of food. Thanks to Wati for helping me prepare the stuff!! Thanks Wince and Shufang for letting me use your office! :)

I've already done all the prep work that I can for this Sat's tea party and I'm nervous as hell. I'm going into semi-panic mode and thinking of worst case scenario where I don't sell a single piece of jewellery!! *SHOCK & HORROR* Oh well...I've got a few 2nd hand books on sale too... =P What if they don't sell either??!! Ok ok...I need to breathe.

Calm and cool Mel is back. Oh...after helping out in Wince's Fx trading class last night, I think I can turn into Yoda soon. As much as I admire the elderly improving themselves by learning new skills (yes...by learning fx trading), teaching them really tests one's patience. Thank goodness I have had experience being a tutor. I have to repeat myself a gazillion times because elders can't remember. They tend to be quite allergic to computers too...hmmms...I love it when one of them kept telling me, "I'm very bad at computers." Haha...but dude! To trade, you need your computer!! Ah well...I think its just fear of new technology. Wait till they learn about twitter etc. LOL.

Anyway, since I've already done all that I can for my tea party, I just wanna refresh some of your memories about the details:

Date: Sat, 14 Mar
Time: 2.30pm-5.30pm
Venue: 42 Tras Street, 3F (Tanjong Pagar MRT, exit A)

Look out for the signs "OCT 1983 Tea Party" or "Forex Driving School".

I am almost there...almost on my way to being a full hikikomori - holed up at home and glued to my computer. Only differences are - I don't lock myself in my room, I'm not afraid of interactions with humans and I do go out to walk my dog. That's about it.

I'm glued to my screen checking out my forex trading screens...and cursing at myself for not holding the trade long enough or cursing at the market, which can't decide whether it wanna go up or down. Yes, its volatile...but the good thing about this volatility is that if I hold a losing trade long enough, i'll break even. Trading is addictive. =P

Well, you guys are hearing this first: I will be having a "Tea Party" on Sat, 14 Mar from 2.30-5.30pm. There will be food, wine and jewellery (OCT 1983 and Jewels by Annie) on sale! I am currently in the midst of getting a manicurist and another vendor. It will be a girly day but it promises to be fun! I have yet to send out invites but it will be held at 42 Tras Street (Tanjong Pagar), 3F. First 20pax will get a free door gift! Bring your girlfriends and enjoy!